Sir David Amess Prevent Learning Review published

Commissioned by both Counter Terrorism Policing and the Home Office, a Prevent Learning Review has been published, following the murder of Sir David Amess in October 2021.

Sir David Amess MP was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Southend West from 1997 until his murder at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea, and was declared a “terrorist incident” by the Metropolitan Police. He was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali in 2021, who was referred to Prevent in 2014 by his school following his teachers identifying a change in behaviour, but was closed in 2016, following his referral to the Channel scheme, which is an early intervention programme that supports people who may be at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

Ali was convicted of murder in April 2022 and received a whole life order.

The government’s Prevent scheme has recently been under contention, following a report into its handling of the Southport killer, Axel Rudakubana, who was referred to and rejected from Prevent three times.

Prevent learning reviews are carried out where a terrorist attack or serious violence offence has been committed by someone who had previously been enrolled on the Prevent programme. They intend to identify internal learning within the Prevent system and are flexible and scalable depending on the severity of the incident.

The review found six issues: the support given to Ali did not tackle all vulnerabilities identified, the record keeping was ineffective and there was not explicit justification for certain decisions, and the responsibilities between the police and local authority were blurred. Other problems were an outdated tool for identifying an individual’s vulnerability to radicalisation, the school that made the Prevent referral should have been involved in discussions to discuss his risk and what support would be needed, and a miscommunication that led to only one session being given rather than two.

The reviewer made four recommendations to improve Prevent in the future, which are improving the referral process, strengthening initial assessment processes, updating the tool used to define vulnerability to terrorism, and not reducing data retention periods. The Home Office and Counter Terrorism Policing have since implemented all four of these recommendations.

On Ali’s Prevent Learning Review, published yesterday (12th February), head of counter terrorism policing Matt Jukes said: “The murder of Sir David Amess MP in October 2021 horrified the nation and was a direct assault of our democracy. I have heard first-hand from his constituents about Sir David’s life of public service.

“I have also heard from his family about their terrible loss, and they are in my thoughts today.

“It is clear that the Prevent Learning Review where the management and handling of Ali Harbi Ali’s case in 2014 should have been better.

“The report also acknowledges that by the time of the attack in 2021, significant changes had been made, and more work has been done since then to act upon the review’s recommendations.

“Difficult decisions in steering people away from radicalisation continue to be made every day, and with almost 60,000 Prevent referrals in the latest decade, we owe it to all those affected, including those making the decisions, to take every opportunity possible to improve the system.

“It is critical that we use reviews such as this to ensure the system works now, and in the future, so that other families are spared the pain felt by the loved ones of Sir David.”