Prisoners being housed in separation centres have been banned from using kitchens after Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi attacked three prison guards with hot cooking oil, according to reports.
Abedi threw hot cooking oil over three officers on Saturday before stabbing them with “home-made weapons”, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said. The officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the “unprovoked” and “vicious” attack in HMP Frankland, Country Durham. Two of the officers remain in hospital in a stable condition.
Hashem Abedi is serving at least 55 years behind bars after helping his suicide bomber brother Salman plan the 2017 attack, which killed 22 innocent people and injured hundreds outside Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert. The 28-year-old is believed to have collected sachets of butter and melted the contents, before throwing the hot oil over a female prison officer.
Abedi has previously been found guilty, along with other convicts, of a vicious attack on a prison officer at Belmarsh jail in South East London in 2020. CCTV footage from that incident showed him smiling moments before launching into the attack.
Category A is the highest level of security and Frankland has housed other notorious inmates, including Fusilier Lee Rigby’s terrorist killer Michael Adebolajo, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, and Charles Bronson.
Frankland also has a separation centre. These centres, introduced in 2017, aim to control and contain prisoners with extreme views, for example by preventing them from disrupting the prison estate, supporting acts of terrorism or radicalising other inmates.
It is understood that the new ban will apply specifically to kitchens in separation centres.
On Sunday morning, Prison Officers’ Association national chairman Mark Fairhurst said Abedi carried out the attack in a separation centre where inmates are allowed to use cooking facilities. He told the BBC: “To allow that type of prisoner to access the kitchen and use the utensils that can be used as weapons against staff, and can inflict serious harm on staff, that needs to be removed immediately.
“We’re now worried about the knock-on effect of this and copycat incidents. It’s very difficult to get someone into the separation centre because of the process you have to go through, so the intelligence really needs to be on the ball to get someone contained in the separation centre.”
The Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood said at the weekend: “I am appalled by the attack of three brave officers.
“My thoughts are with them and their families. The police are now investigating. I will be pushing for the strongest possible punishment. Violence against our staff will never be tolerated.”
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