Abedi and Hassan refuse to attend court

Hashem Abedi and Ahmed Hassan have refused to leave their prison cells to attend a hearing over charges they attacked a prison officer, and could be physically forced to attend court.

The Manchester Arena bomber’s brother and Parsons Green attacker reportedly had to be ‘pulled off’ Paul Edwards as they attacked him at HMP Belmarsh, southeast London.

Alongside a third terror offender, Muhammed Saeed, they are accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The court heard how the three defendants were out of their cells on 11 May last year, when they entered an office and assaulted Mr Edwards as he sat at a desk.

All three defendants were due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video-link from high-security HMP Frankland on 7 April, but Abedi and Hassan did not show on the link.

An unnamed prison officer told the judge: “They've not made any formal representation, they just insisted they're not going to attend in any shape or form, sir.”

Saeed did appear via video link from high-security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire to enter a not guilty plea, and was remanded in custody until 5 May.

Hashem Abedi’s brother Salman murdered 22 victims following an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, whilst Hassan partially detonated a bomb on the London Underground later that year.