Hundreds on UK’s terror radar could launch attacks, warns ex-security chief

HUNDREDS of people on the “terror radar” in the UK could carry out a gruesome killing like the murder of Father Jacques Hamel in France, a security expert warned today.

Chris Phillips, a former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, a police unit which works with the Home Office on the Government’s anti - t error s t r at e gy, s ai d measures to keep track of suspects in Britain “really have not worked”.

His warning came as more details emerged about Adel Kermiche, 19, who was tagged and under house arrest before he and an accomplice slit the throat of the priest, 86, in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy.

He is understood to have been p e r mi t t e d o u t o f h i s h o me between 8.30am and 12.30pm, so the tag was disconnected during the attack yesterday morning.

More than 2,000 people are believed to be on the “radar of terrorism” in the UK, said Mr Phillips. The security services carry out extensive surveillance on some of them and a small number have been put on Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures, or Tpims, which mean they can be t a g ge d , p l a c e d under curfew and moved to another part of the country.

T p i ms replaced control orders, which had stricter conditions, in 2012. Mr Phillips told BBC radio: “Neither really have worked. This is one area where we have got a big issue. What we have seen in France, even people that have got the tag on, are not really being monitored. “Anyone of these 2,000-odd people that we have got in the UK could turn into a terrorist like this.” He highlighted two cases where people on Tpims went on the run in London and said the only way to fully crack down on the threat from tagged suspects would be to “lock them up”. He said the authorities wanted to avoid such draconian steps as it would “make the whole situation worse”. “But of course events may drag us in that direction,” he added. The Home Office said this month that only one person was currently on a Tpim. Security minister Ben Wallace said: “Tpims provide a robust and effective means for dealing with terrorist suspects who we cannot prosecute or deport. They are only one of a range of powers available to disrupt terrorism-related activity.”