Synagogue terrorist was on bail for alleged rape

The Manchester synagogue terrorist was on police bail for an alleged rape when he carried out the attack, the Guardian can reveal.

- Josh Halliday Daniel Boffey Vikram Dodd

Jihad al-Shamie, 35, was being investigated over the alleged sexual attack, which is understood to have taken place earlier this year. The Syrian-born attacker is also believed to have other criminal convictions, although he was not on the radar of counter-terrorism officers or MI5.

Shamie was shot dead by armed police after killing a Jewish man and seriously injuring several others when he attacked the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in north Manchester, on Thursday.

The revelation emerged as:

• Greater Manchester police said it appeared that officers had accidentally shot one of the two victims killed during the attack and that they had probably injured another after opening fire on the attacker.

• Sources said counter-terrorism police were examining whether Shamie was responsible for a death threat sent to an MP in 2012.

• The prime minister called for protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews” after activists demonstrating against the ban on Palestine Action said cancelling today’s event would “let terror win”.

• David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, was heckled and booed as he addressed a vigil close to the scene of the attack, where he faced calls of “shame on you”, “go to Palestine, leave us alone” and “you have blood on your hands”.

• Police named the two men who were killed as 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz. Relatives of Cravitz said he was a “gentle giant” who “would never harm a fly”, while a Muslim neighbour of Daulby described him as “one of the most fantastic men I ever knew in my life”.

It has also been reported that a man who helped to barricade the doors of the synagogue said he had heard the attacker shout “this is what they get for killing our children” while trying to get through the doors.