Two convicted terrorists or “terrorist risk” offenders are being released from prison every week, a watchdog has revealed, warning that current monitoring practices are “unsustainable”.
A joint report by the prison, probation and police inspectorates said there are not enough senior officials to oversee all 120 inmates due to be freed in the year to March 2024.
Several attacks have been committed by previous terror offenders, including the Fishmongers’ Hall stabbings, Streatham rampage and an attack inside HMP Whitemoor, while the 2020 Reading murders were committed by a radicalised violent criminal days after his release from prison.
The Independent understands that al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists behind large-scale terror plots thwarted in the 2000s are now being considered for release, alongside Isis supporters and neo-Nazis convicted of lesser offences in recent years.
Several court cases and inquests have revealed terrorist networking and radicalisation inside prison, and jail time is believed to have made some offenders even more dangerous.
The security services anticipate more attempted terror attacks over the coming months, with the home secretary warning on Tuesday that the threat to Britain was rising as terrorists become “increasingly unpredictable”.
Sources expect the number of prison releases to peak over the coming months, but view the situation as the cost of jailing more terror offenders by disrupting past plots, banning terrorist groups and catching people encouraging attacks and spreading propaganda.
MI5 must assess the risk posed by growing numbers of people approaching the end of their sentences, while juggling any monitoring of familiar faces with new subjects of interest and hostile state threats.
The watchdog report said the demand was caused by increased terror arrests between 2017 and 2019, when a “change in both extremist activity and policing tactics” saw more people prosecuted for lower-level terrorist offences.
“This keeps people safe in the short term; however, it means those individuals will be released quicker, having received shorter sentences,” it added.
“It comes at a time when historical cases that involved attack planning and a risk of serious harm are now entering Parole Board windows for release.”
Justin Russell, HM chief inspector of probation, said he was “encouraged” by improvements in the monitoring of terror offenders but warned: “The risk of further terrorist attacks remains, and continued investment and commitment to interagency information sharing is essential.”
Matt Jukes, the head of UK counter-terror policing, has named the release of terror offenders as a key threat.
“History has taught us to be wary of those individuals both during their time in prison and on release,” he warned in February.
Enhanced supervision brought in after a string of terror attacks committed by convicts in 2019 and 2020 mandates that all terror offenders must be considered by the Parole Board before release, and then kept under the highest level of multi-agency monitoring for a year after release.
But so-called “terrorist risk offenders” in the pool of 120 inmates may still be released automatically, because they were jailed for crimes falling outside specific terrorism laws and later identified by prison intelligence as a potential terror threat.
Mr Russell said the monitoring of terrorists inside prison and after release had improved, with significant investment, new units, improved information-sharing and specialist training.
“But there will be an increase in caseload for the National Security Division [of the probation service] as the longer-sentence prisoners start to get released, and some of the short-term guys are also being released,” he told The Independent.
“That will be a pretty big burden on them if the assumption is that every terrorism risk nominal has to be supervised for at least 12 months at the highest level.”
The report said the model worked when a few dozen terrorists were being released annually, but was “unsustainable” for the number of people now being freed.
It recommended a lower level of multi-agency monitoring for some terror offenders, potentially including a large number of young people who were jailed for viewing or sharing propaganda online, rather than planning attacks.
Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were murdered by a released terrorist prisoner during the 2019 Fishmongers’ Hall attack— (Metropolitan Police)
The watchdogs also highlighted issues around the storage of important information and data on terrorists, and said that some offences committed inside prison were not being prosecuted - resulting in “missed opportunities” to keep dangerous people behind bars.
The inspection found that some terrorists were only assessed as a security threat, rather than for potential domestic abuse and child safeguarding risks.
Andy Cooke, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said: “The threat posed by terrorism hasn’t gone away, and so, for the safety of our public and for our national security, efforts in this area cannot subside.
“As we tragically witnessed in 2019 and 2020, mistakes can have devastating consequences, and therefore every agency involved must continue to do everything they can to prevent something similar ever happening again.”
A senior Counter Terrorism Policing officer said officers were “absolutely committed” to improving the management of known terror offenders, and would respond to all the watchdog recommendations.
Detective Chief Superintendent Maria Lovegrove said: “Known terrorist offenders will always pose a potential risk to the safety of the public and we must balance the management of new threats with the challenge this cohort presents.
“Our ability to do so is greater with genuine collaboration, and we will continue to build on the foundations outlined in the report in our efforts to protect the public.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Public protection is our number one priority and, as inspectors have noted, the government has significantly improved the work done to keep our streets safe from the threat of terrorism – including ensuring terror offenders face longer behind bars and increased supervision on release.
“We will always ensure our work to keep the public safe from terrorists is properly resourced.”
