Number of terror suspects double

The number of terror suspects on MI5's watch list has more than doubled from the figure of the previous year. Former chief of counter-terrorism policing, Sir Mark Rowley, said security services and police faced a "wicked problem" in diagnosing which of the 43,000 people on MI5's radar could launch a terror attack.

 

The former head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, Richard Walton, stated that, "It is a ridiculously high number. The bigger question is why are there 40,000 people who think it is acceptable to consider murdering people. It tells you the scale of the problem. Nine-tenths of the people on that list are Islamist extremists."

 

MI5 has admitted Khairi Saadallah, who stands accused of stabbing three people to death in a Reading park, was briefly under investigation but that the after two months case file was closed.

 

Sources at Whitehall said the information passed to intelligence officers was "not credible enough" to warrant a full investigation into allegations that the 25 year old Saadallah had been planning to travel to his home country, Libya, to fight with extremist groups.

 

Mr Saadallah had previously lived in Bury. 

 

Following the terror attack in Reading the Home Secretary said she would accelerate legislation on foreign offenders by making it easier to remove them. Speaking to MPs, Priti Patel said, "The Government's position is if you abuse our hospitality and commit crimes in the UK, we will do everything in our power to remove you. I am also clear that tougher action is needed to speed up removals and deter foreign criminals from entering the UK. It's not always easy; there are barriers to overcome. That is something we will look at through other legislative means."

 

She further promised "further and greater criminality checks at the border", with new laws to bar any foreign national seeking to live or work in the UK who had been jailed for more than a year.

 

Deported foreign criminals who return to the UK face automatic imprisonment, increasing current sanctions of a £5,000 fine or six months in jail. Up to 500 offenders return every year.