Parsons Green bomber did not agree to Prevent

A former mentor of Ahmed Hassan, the Parsons Green bomber who has just been jailed for life, has said that the teenager had not agreed to take part in the Prevent programme. Having injured roughly 50 people in the time attack last September, Hassan was not properly engaged with the scheme as he had not given his consent to the government's much criticised deradicalisation programme. This contradicts police reports which say that Hassan was co-operating with the programme at the time of the attack. The Metropolitan Police maintain that the 18-year-old engaging with its Channel programme at the time of the attack, which operates on the basis that people regarded ‘at risk’ agree to take part. But Kayte Cable, Hassan's mentor the year before the attack, told the BBC that lack of consent meant the teenager was not properly engaged with the programme intended to deradicalise him. She went on to say that we need ‘complete transparency’ about what happened to stop attacks like the Parsons Green bombing from happening again.