‘Probation had chance to put killer back in jail’
A TERROR attack might have been stopped had a convicted criminal been ordered back to jail after buying items used to make a fake suicide belt, an inquest jury found yesterday.
Jihadi Sudesh Amman, 20, was killed by surveillance officers following the atrocity in Streatham, south London, last February.
He stabbed two people 10 days after his release from jail.
The inquest jury at the Royal Courts of Justice in London returned a conclusion of lawful killing. But they said HM Prison and Probation Service “missed an opportunity” to send the attacker back to prison.
MI5 and police were so concerned about Amman two days before the attack they held an emergency meeting to discuss arresting him.
But the probation service did not recall him to prison, despite officers watching him buy four small bottles of Irn-Bru, kitchen foil and parcel tape on January 31 – items they rightly feared were for a hoax suicide belt.
Amman was kept under round-the-clock armed surveillance instead.
Coroner Mr Justice Hilliard said: “The surveillance teams were prepared to put themselves in harm’s way.
“They are all to be commended for their bravery.”
Carina Heckroodt, head of the London Extremism Gangs and Organised Crime Unit at the Probation Service, denied it was a “missed opportunity” not to recall Amman to prison.
But in their conclusion the jury said: “Whilst the jury does acknowledge that several other avenues were explored in order to recall, there was a missed opportunity.”
They agreed that, based on its policy framework, HMPPS “could have recalled Amman if satisfied that his behaviour indicated an increased or unmanageable risk of serious harm to the public”.