The man who killed MP Sir David Amess was released from the Prevent anti-terror programme “too quickly”, a review has found.
Sir David was stabbed to death by Islamic State (ISIS) supporter Ali Harbi Ali during a constituency surgery at a church hall in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021.
The killer, who was given a whole-life sentence in 2022, had become radicalised by ISIS propaganda and had been referred to the anti-terror programme Prevent before the attack, but his case had been closed five years before.
Failures in dealing with his case led to it being “exited” too soon, security minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Following the publication of a review into Prevent’s handling of Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana earlier this month, Mr Jarvis said a Prevent learning review into Sir David’s killing would be released this week in a commitment to transparency over the anti-terror programme.
The review found:
• Ali was referred to Prevent in 2014 by his school after teachers said his demeanour, appearance and behaviour changed from a previously “engaging student with a bright future”
• Prevent quickly took his case on and he was referred to Channel, part of the programme that aims to prevent involvement in extremism
• He was “exited from Prevent too quickly”, Mr Jarvis said, just five months later “after his terrorism risk was assessed as low”
• A review by police 12 months after he was released from Prevent “also found no terrorism concerns” and the case was closed. This was not uploaded for eight more months due to an “IT issue”
• People released from Prevent are meant to have a review at six and 12 months.
• There were no referrals to Prevent in the five years before the attack on Sir David.
Mr Jarvis said the review found an assessment into Ali’s vulnerabilities was “problematic”.
“This ultimately led to questionable decision-making and sub-optimal handling of the case,” he said.
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Sir David Amess’ daughter taking legal action
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Sir David’s daughter, Katie Amess, 39, welcomed the announcement but said every victim failed by Prevent deserves an inquiry, not just the Southport victims.
“We potentially wouldn’t be in the same situation today with repeat failings of Prevent had somebody had just listened to me back when it [her father’s killing] happened and launched a full public inquiry,” she told LBC.
Ms Amess said she believes if the Southport attack had not happened, the review into Prevent’s handling of her father’s killer would never have been released into the public domain.
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