British inmates get life sentences for prison terror attack

Britain was on a high state of terrorism alert after a spate of attacks. (File: AFP)

• Two inmates in Britain wore fake suicide belts and shouted “Allahu Akbar”
• The judge said the duo had been “inspired by extremist beliefs” and have a “twisted view of Islam”

LONDON: Two inmates in Britain convicted of trying to murder a prison officer in an Islamist terror attack behind bars earlier this year were on Thursday handed life sentences.
Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and Baz Macaulay Hockton, 26, wore fake suicide belts and shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) as they launched the January attack at Whitemoor prison in eastern England.
The pair targeted officer Neil Trundle with makeshift bladed weapons and blows, and also injured another officer and a nurse who intervened in the maximum security facility.
The judge at London’s Old Bailey court hearing the case decided it had “a terrorist connection,” resulting in heavier sentences, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
Its counter-terrorism branch investigated the offenses, which are believed to be the first acts of terrorism in a British jail outside Northern Ireland.
“This was a calculated and horrific attack by two very dangerous prisoners who had one aim — to try and murder prison staff,” Richard Smith, head of the Met unit, said.
“Our investigation showed they were motivated to carry out this attack by their extreme ideology.”
Ziamani received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years for attempted murder, as well as two years for actual bodily harm against the nurse and four months for common assault against the other officer.
The terms will all run concurrently.
He is already five years into a 19-year sentence for a 2014 terror plot to behead a soldier inspired by the high-profile murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
Hockton, a Muslim convert who was radicalized in jail, got a minimum term of 23 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.
He also faces 10 years for another assault at a different prison in 2019, which will run concurrently.
Passing sentence, the judge said the duo had been “inspired by extremist beliefs” and that their “twisted view of Islam” must change before they are ever released.
There has been a sharp increase in prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offenses, sparking growing concerns that other inmates may become radicalized.
The government says it has trained around 20,000 staff in extremism awareness training, and employs multi-faith chaplaincy teams in all prisons.
It has also opened two so-called Separation Centers where individuals considered to pose the biggest risk are kept away from the main prison population.