Minister says lie detectors can help catch ‘sleeper’ terrorists

THE JUSTICE Secretary has defended plans to make terrorists take a lie detector test to prove they have reformed and are not planning to carry out another attack.

Plans to introduce “polygraph testing” were announced by the Government yesterday as part of a wave of measures being described as a “major overhaul” in the way terrorists are punished and monitored – including tougher sentences to see them locked up for longer – in the wake of the London Bridge attack.

When questions were raised over their accuracy, Robert Buckland insisted lie detectors were important to identify “sleepers” and that they will not be the only measure used.

He told Sky News: “You can get people who are in effect sleepers for many years and then suddenly back come the hatreds and the prejudices and we see atrocities like the one we did at Fishmongers’ Hall.”

Pressed on accuracy of the tests being as low as 60 per cent, Mr Buckland said: “I’m not pretending on their own, polygraphs, lie detectors, are the be-all-andend-all,

ROBERT BUCKLAND: Minister says detectors will not be the only measure used with terrorists.

which is why what we are also doing is doubling the number of specialised counterterrorism probation officers... improving training, getting more psychologists in there, specialist imams as well will be working with these people.”

Meanwhile, he told BBC Breakfast the proposal was “not a new concept”, with detectors introduced about seven years ago to assess the risk posed to the public by sex offenders.

He insisted it was a “sensible measure in order to help maximise the understanding of the risks that some of these prisoners pose to society” which would not form part of a criminal investigation or evidence used in court.

Some experts have questioned the credibility of polygraph tests, claiming there are ways of cheating to manipulate the results.

More details of The Counter Terrorism (Sentencing and Release) Bill were released less than two months after convicted terrorist Usman Khan embarked on a killing spree near London Bridge, armed with two knives after attending a prisoner rehabilitation programme while out on licence halfway through a 16-year jail sentence.

The policies were described by the Ministry of Justice and Home Office as a “major shift” in the UK’s approach to the sentencing and management of terrorist offenders.

You can get people who are sleepers for many years and come back.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland