On November 29 2019, Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were brutally murdered by Usman Khan, 28, at Fishmongers’ Hall, a building adjacent to London Bridge. Jack was course coordinator for Learning Together, a prisoner rehabilitation programme set up by the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University, which was hosting a conference at the hall. Saskia was a volunteer with the programme. The murderer was an attendee at the same conference. He had been jailed for terrorist offences in February 2012, with an open-ended indeterminate public protection (IPP) sentence. On appeal, in 2013, this was converted to a determinate 16-year sentence, and he went on to be automatically released on licence in December 2018, without any assessment by the Parole Board. The terms of his licence included having to wear an electronic monitoring tag, along with some restrictions on his movements. The attack was particularly senseless as both the victims were helping to rehabilitate their assailant. Khan himself was shot dead by police, having been chased and captured as he was running away along London Bridge.
Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the attack, politicians used this tragic incident to bolster their campaigning efforts in the run up to the General Election. It is, of course, difficult to be dispassionate when such events do happen, but it is most certainly not an occasion to exploit in order to gain political capital. Rather, it is a time to pay tribute to and suitably commemorate the lives of those killed, while objectively seeking out what has gone wrong and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.
Terrorism has been around on the British mainland for several centuries. The Gunpowder Plot (1605) and the Cato Street Conspiracy (1820) are well-known historical examples of terrorist activity, as are the exploits of the Fenians in Victorian England and of the Anarchists in Edwardian England. The sources of terrorist threat in the UK today include Islamist or “jihadist” groups, in particular Daesh (Islamic State) and Al Qaida, who subscribe to a hybrid religious/political movement known as Salafi-Jihadism, as well as right-wing white supremacists or “English nationalists”, and dissident Irish republican splinter groups.
There is no internationally agreed legal definition of terrorism, making it difficult to agree upon and effectively coordinate global anti-terrorist initiatives. The UK definition, as enshrined in the Terrorism Act 2000, refers to: “The use or threat of action designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public, or a section of the public; made for the purposes of advancing a political, a religious, a racial or an ideological cause”. This definition is felt by some to be too broad and rather ill-defined, thereby potentially causing political journalists, campaigners and bloggers to be identified wrongly as supporters of terrorist activity.
Irrespective of the precise definition, an act of terrorism may involve actual violence, or maybe just the threat of violence. Violent intents are often declared on websites and social media groups, and the Dark Web, in particular, allows terrorists to operate freely without any meaningful scrutiny. The internet has facilitated the spread of radical messages to a much wider audience than hitherto possible, and has significantly contributed to the radicalisation of angry and disaffected youths.
Violent means commonly adopted by terrorists include stabbing, shooting, bombing and vehicular assaults, all for the purpose of killing or maiming people. Victims are frequently randomly chosen civilians, who are generally easier targets when compared with political and military ones. These acts are designed to coerce or intimidate the wider public and to openly defy the government of the day. Terrorist acts may be carried out either by organisations, often with a chain of command and a cell structure, or by individuals who subscribe to various ideologies- so-called “lone wolves”.
Terrorism is a global problem, albeit with a regional focus. Terrorist activity appears to be more prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. There is no particular recognisable terrorist personality, nor is there any fixed racial or religious profile that can reliably identify a terrorist. The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database which provides comprehensive information about terrorist attacks that have taken place since 1970 . According to GTD figures, there have been 1,904 deaths from terrorist attacks in the UK between 1985 and 1999, compared with 2,211 between 1970 and 1984, and 126 between 2000 and 2017. The drop in numbers of deaths reflects the end of the sectarian “Troubles” in Northern Ireland and of IRA attacks on the British mainland.
Counter-terrorism activities in the UK are the shared responsibility of the Security Service (MI5), the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, and the Counter-Terrorism Police. The UK’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism (CONTEST), last revised in June 2018, continues to refer to the strategic framework of the “four P” national strands of Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare, which are all self-explanatory titles. The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 has recently strengthened counter-terrorism measures to reflect changes in the nature of terrorist threats to the UK.
Counter-terrorism surveillance requires the active cooperation of the public, either from individuals reporting suspicious activity or from local communities which may harbour terrorists. Members of the general public can alert the relevant agencies by either calling 999 or the police anti-terrorist hotline (0800 789 321) for immediate threats to life or property, or by reporting to MI5, either online (on the MI5 web site), by phone, or in writing.
While prevention and early detection of terrorists is the best long-term strategy, the vexed question of how to deal with convicted terrorists continues to be controversial and the source of ongoing debate. While retribution for hate crimes of violence is essential, the length of sentences imposed are frequently regarded as too lenient. Furthermore, it is not enough to be released back into the community at the conclusion of a sentence unless “rehabilitation”, as for example through de-radicalisation programmes, can be ensured. Such decisions are frequently subjective, based on psychological assessments which can be easily manipulated by those motivated to do so. This, indeed, appears to have led to these two latest terrorist killings in London.
Terrorists are fundamentally different from other criminals, who mainly act in their own self-interests for either personal gain or revenge. Terrorist attacks are driven by ideologies which often transcend any immediate gains to oneself. After all, how does any democratic nation effectively deal with brainwashed people who are willing to sacrifice their own lives as well as those of many others in the pursuit of their own deluded and perverted agendas? The usual lines of engagement cease to exist under these circumstances. Terrorism is a particularly difficult nut to crack, and the criminal justice system is not the only part of the chain that is need of reform. Longer-term community-based initiatives are needed to help identify and address the root causes of this dangerous form of criminality.
Ashis Banerjee (very moved by the unnecessary loss of two nice young people)