Reports suggest Patel is seeking changes to Prevent scheme

Home Secretary Priti Patel has hinted at reforms to the Prevent programme after the homegrown terrorist who murdered Sir David Amess was sentenced to die in jail.

Amid a litany of concerns about how the government’s counter terror scheme is working, Patel said in light of Ali Harbi Ali being given a whole-life tariff that ‘there are things that need to change’.

She said: “This Prevent review is really important to me. I can’t prejudge a review but it’s quite clear, and I say this from my own observations and what I see, that there are things that need to change.”

Ali, who has since been known as a ‘lone wolf’ attacker, became known to authorities in 2014-2015 as his school performance plummeted and he was referred to Prevent, but continued plotting in secret.

Involvement with Prevent features in other recent terrorist cases, including that of Reading terror attacker Khairi Saadallah and Sudesh Amman, responsible for stabbings in Streatham, both in 2020, as well as the 2017 Parsons Green Tube train attacker Iraqi asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan.

While a long-awaited independent review of Prevent is anticipated to be published soon, it is understood Home Office officials and ministers are yet to see the findings.