Emergency legislation to end release of terrorists half way through jail terms
Streatham attacker Sudesh Amman was automatically released early from prison days before stabbing people in south London.
Tuesday 4 February 2020 09:30, UK
The government has vowed to introduce emergency legislation to prevent terrorists being automatically freed from prison half way through their sentence.
Justice secretary Robert Buckland also said those jailed for terror offences will have to appear before the parole board before they can be released.
He made the announcement a day after Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after stabbing two people in an apparent Islamist-inspired attack in Streatham, south London.
Amman, from Harrow, northwest London, had been released from prison a week before Sunday afternoon's attack after serving time for spreading extremist material.
Mr Buckland confirmed he had automatically been released half way through his sentence of three years and four months, and had not had to go before the parole board.
Under the emergency legislation, terror prisoners, including ones currently in prison, will not be allowed to be released until they have served two thirds of their sentence and not until the parole board has agreed.
"Yesterday's appalling incident makes the case plainly for immediate action," Mr Buckland told the House of Commons.
"We will therefore introduce emergency legislation to ensure an end to terrorist offenders getting released automatically having served half of their sentence with no check or review."
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He added that the parole board will be given strengthened functions "to deal even more effectively with the specific risk that terrorists pose to public safety".
Mr Buckland also said the government will review whether current maximum penalties and frameworks for terror offenders are "appropriate".
He referred to November's terror attack at Fishmongers' Hall by London Bridge when five people were stabbed, two fatally, by Usman Khan.
Khan had automatically been released from prison in 2018 after serving half a sentence for helping to establish a terrorist camp on his family's land in Kashmir and plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange.
Following that attack, the government proposed a new counter terrorism bill that would ensure those convicted of serious terror offences would spend a minimum of 14 years in jail, lie detector tests for offenders would be introduced and the number of counter-terrorism probation officers would be doubled.
Mr Buckland said a man in his 40s who was stabbed in the Streatham attack is recovering well after fighting for his life and a woman in her 50s, a teacher at a nearby school, was discharged from hospital after receiving non-life threatening injuries.
He said a woman in her 20s who was hurt by glass as police shot Amman is still in hospital but recovering.
Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said Labour would consider the government's proposals after criticising its cuts to the justice system over the past decade.
He said his party would only look at the proposals "because our priority must be to keep the public safe".
"The government cannot use sentencing as a way of distracting from their record of bringing the criminal justice system to breaking point," he added.