People arrive with flowers yesterday at the site where soldier Lee Rigby was killed.

 

London Evening Standard/London

MPs and peers will use new powers to discover if MI5 blundered over its monitoring of the Woolwich murder suspects.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, vowed that its inquiry into the attack would reveal whether there were any “defects” in the security service’s work.

However, he insisted that MI5 was not “in the dock”, after it emerged that the agency knew about Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, the men alleged to have killed drummer Lee Rigby, 25, last week. “That would be very unfair,” the former foreign secretary told BBC radio.

“The fact that we have not had anyone killed until these tragic events in Woolwich since the 7/7 bombings in 2005 is not because there have not been terrorist plots.

“Every year since 2005 there has been at least one, sometimes two or even more terrorist plots, which were disrupted and prevented from killing British citizens.

“The record (of the intelligence agencies) over the last few years has been hugely impressive.”

Sir Malcolm stressed that the new powers had been approved by Parliament earlier this year.

“What we can do is not simply ask questions of MI5, but we can have access to all the relevant files — internal papers and any documents relevant to this matter,” he added.

The committee of parliamentarians will deliver its report to David Cameron, and a redacted version will be made public.

The security service is facing questions about its monitoring of the suspects, particularly after a Kenyan police chief said that Adebolajo was arrested three years ago because it was feared he was attempting to cross the border into Somalia with five other men to train and fight with the Al Shabaab militant group, which is linked to Al Qaeda.

He was also reported yesterday to have been allowed to return to Kenya at least once last year, despite the concerns.

Sir Malcolm also stressed the importance of giving new powers to the police and members of the security services to enable them to access records of people’s internet use and social media contacts, though not the content of messages.

Nick Clegg is under growing pressure to sign up the Liberal Democrats to giving authorities these powers in a Communications Data Act, legislation that was dubbed a “snoopers’ charter” and which he blocked this year.

 

Prison officers hurt in attack by inmates

AFP/London

Counter-terrorism police yesterday launched an investigation after a guard at a maximum security prison was taken hostage and injured by three inmates reportedly inspired by the brutal murder of a soldier in Woolwich.

The prison officers’ union said that the guard was held hostage for nearly four hours at Full Sutton prison near York in northern England on Sunday, until riot officers managed to free him.

He suffered a broken cheekbone in the attack while a female colleague received minor injuries as she tried to help him.

The North East Counter Terrorism Unit released a statement saying it was “leading the investigation” into the incident.

There was no official confirmation of reports that the three attackers were Muslim prisoners inspired by the murder last week of British soldier Lee Rigby who was hacked to death in a London street.

The Mirror newspaper reported that the guard was kidnapped and beaten by the inmates after they became enraged by a call from the prison’s cleric to pray for the soldier.

“An officer was taken hostage at Full Sutton prison on Sunday evening,” a spokesman for the prison officers’ union, the POA, said.

“A team of riot officers was deployed and managed to diffuse the situation after four hours. I understand that the injuries sustained by the two officers involved in this incident were minor and they have now been discharged from hospital - but we are lucky that this situation didn’t turn out to be as life-threatening as it could have been.”

He added that a representative of the union was visiting the prison “to try and get a better picture of what happened”.

The justice ministry confirmed that “an incident involving three prisoners” had taken place at the jail.