Prison officers ‘stabbed by Manchester Arena bomb plotter’ now in a stable condition

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has confirmed that two officers who were seriously injured by Hashem Abedi are now in a stable condition in hospital.

It is understood that Abedi threw hot cooking oil over three officers on Saturday before stabbing them with “home-made weapons”.

Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) NE is leading the investigation into the “serious assault”.

The officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the “unprovoked” and “vicious” attack, POA stated.

The Prison Service has confirmed three prison officers were treated in hospital after an attack by an inmate at HMP Frankland, County Durham.

One female officer was discharged by 4pm on Saturday.

On Sunday morning (April 13), POA national chairman Mark Fairhurst told the BBC: “First and foremost my thoughts are with the injured staff, their families and of course their colleagues who had to deal with the aftermath.

“Two are still in hospital with serious injuries but I’m glad to report they’ve stabilised.

“They all have burns and scalds and the two in hospital have severe stab wounds.”

CTP said on Saturday night “the suspect has been detained”.

Abedi was convicted of assisting with the Manchester terror plot, in which his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi killed 22 people by detonating a homemade rucksack-bomb in a crowd of concert-goers.

CTP’s acting senior national co-ordinator, Commander Dom Murphy, said: “Given the nature of the incident, it has been agreed that CTP North East will lead the investigation, supported by Durham Constabulary.

“This is an ongoing investigation which is in its early stages, and we are working hard to establish the facts. Therefore, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

Abedi was handed a record-breaking 55-year minimum term in August 2020 which he is currently serving at the category A HMP Frankland.

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 prisoners with extreme views, for example by preventing them from disrupting the prison estate, supporting acts of terrorism or radicalising other inmates.

Mr Fairhurst said the attack was carried out 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 centres are “for obvious reasons” well-resourced, with good staffing levels that include people who are specially trained to work in separation centres, he said.

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