TERRORISTS WON’T BE FREED EARLY VOWS PATEL

EARLY release from jail for the most dangerous terrorists is to be scrapped in the wake of last year’s London Bridge atrocity, the Home Secretary will announce today.

Priti Patel also plans to introduce lie detector tests to stop such offenders hoodwinking the authorities into believing they are reformed.

The measures are part of a major overhaul of the way terrorists are punished and monitored.

Extremists jailed for the most serious terror crimes will have to serve the whole of their sentences behind bars.

Anyone convicted of preparing acts of terrorism or directing a terrorist organisation will be automatically jailed for at least 14 years.

Terrorists deemed not to be a risk will still have to serve at least two-thirds of their sentences in jail.

The Home Office said the overhaul will include “introducing measures such as polygraph testing”.

The new approach has come after convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, stabbed two people to death and wounded three others at Fishmongers’ Hall on London Bridge in November.

Khan had been jailed for 16 years for his part in a terror plot but was freed “on licence” in December 2018 after serving just half the sentence.

He was allowed to travel to London to attend a rehabilitation conference.

At the meeting, he killed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25 and Saskia Jones, 23, before going on the rampage and being shot dead by police.

Ms Patel said Khan’s attack “confronted us with some hard truths about how we deal with terrorist offenders, which is why we immediately announced a review into sentencing and licence conditions, to do whatever is necessary to stop these sickening attacks from taking place.

“Today we are delivering on those promises, giving police and probation officers the resources they need to investigate and track offenders, introducing tougher sentences, and launching major reviews into how offenders are managed after they are released.”

The number of specialist counterterrorism probation officers will be doubled, while probation hostel places will also be increased to keep “closer tabs” on terrorists.

Counter-terrorism police funding will be boosted by £90million to £906million for the coming year.

An extra £500,000 will be pumped into the Victims of Terrorism Unit, plus there will be more specialist psychologists and trained imams.