A case review released yesterday shows failures in the Prevent anti-terror programme allowed a radicalised young Briton left free to murder Conservative MP Sir David Amess
The killer of Sir David Amess MP had been referred to the anti-terrorism Prevent programme by his school in South Croydon, but his case was closed two years later.
Murderer: Ali Harbi Ali, from Croydon, was ‘assessed’ by Prevent in a single meeting held at McDonald’s
An official review was published yesterday that showed Riddlesdown Collegiate, where Ali Harbi Ali had gone to secondary school, had acted properly in making the referral to security authorities over concerns that he could have an interest in violent Islamism.
Prevent is a voluntary scheme intended to deflect people away from being radicalised before they commit terrorist acts.
The review found that the decision to close Ali’s case had been taken too soon, and was one of “a series of errors” by the Prevent team, which involved officers of the Metropolitan Police in this case working together with Croydon Council.
Ali Harbi Ali was convicted of Amess’s murder in 2022 when he was 26. He had been referred to Prevent in 2014. His case was closed in 2016, after Prevent held a single meeting with him – over a coffee at McDonald’s.
Ali went on to consume Islamic State propaganda and in October 2021 attacked Amess as he held a Southend West constituency surgery.
At the murder scene, Ali told an onlooker he was doing it for Syria.
Prevent learning reviews are usually kept secret, but Amess’s family wanted this made public.
“I am very pleased that the failures of Prevent are now in the public domain – we were aware of them but were essentially gagged,” Lady Julia Amess, the MP’s widow, said yesterday. The Amess family has called for a public inquiry.
The review into Prevent’s handling of the Ali case followed a critical report last week into its handling of the Southport killer, Axel Rudakubana. Rudakubana was referred to and rejected from Prevent three times.
Ali’s criminal trial heard he had hidden his real views while in the Prevent scheme.
Avoidable: Sir David Amess’s killer had been referred to Prevent years before the violent attack on the MP
The Old Bailey court was told he had wanted to travel to join Islamic State in Syria, and a year after being cleared by Prevent, he had decided to carry out a terror attack in Britain.
Ali is a British national from a family of Somali refugees – his father had been an official in the Somalian government. When he worked in Mogadishi, Harbi Ali Kullane was involved in several anti-terrorist campaigns against the jihadist group al-Shabab, and as a result had himself faced death threats.
The family lived in a house on Cranmer Road, not far from the Croydon Flyover. Ali Harbi Ali had been one of the first Muslim children to attend the Church of England primary school which today is known as Minster Primary.
School staff and neighbours remember Ali and his family as being helpful and enthusiastic members of the local community. “They would arrive at the school gates to collect their children, and always say ‘Hello’, and ask how things were,” one former teacher told Inside Croydon.
“They were never any trouble.”
Ali was 17 years old when his secondary school, Riddlesdown Collegiate, made the referral because of a suspected interest in Islamism. Teachers at the school became concerned by changes in Ali’s behaviour, such as suddenly wearing Islamic clothing, and a deterioration in his studies.
A month after being referred, he was moved on to the next stage of the anti-radicalisation scheme, Channel, working with experts in Islamist extremism.
He was assigned to an “intervention provider”, but he was exited from Channel in April 2015 after his terrorism risk was deemed to be “Low”.
Proper referral: teachers at Riddlesdown Collegiate became concerned at changes in Ali’s behaviour
He was assessed as part of a police review a year later, the case was closed and no further Prevent referrals were made.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, in April 2022 Ali was given a whole-life prison sentence for the murder of David Amess.
The review released yesterday found that the Prevent assessment had been made too soon, after just that single meeting with him at McDonald’s.
The review found “the ultimate decision to exit Ali is based on the one initial report from the IP”. An “IP” is an “intervention provider”.
The review described the handling of Ali’s case as “sub-optimal”.
In a statement read to the House of Commons yesterday, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Record-keeping was problematic, and the rationale for certain decisions was not explicit. Responsibilities between police and the local authorities were blurred.”
By “local authorities”, Jarvis meant Croydon Council.
In the review, it states: “There is a police practitioner responsible for coordinating delivery of Channel in all areas. Some areas have a dedicated police Channel coordinator; these are closely aligned to the Prevent priority areas… It is clear that there was a dedicated Police Channel Practitioner for Croydon and that [they were] involved with the case throughout the relevant period that Ali was engaged.”
And it further explains: “The panel should be chaired by the local authority and include the Channel police practitioner and other relevant statutory partners.”
In his Commons statement, Jarvis said: “The school that made the referral to Prevent should have been involved in discussions to help determine risk and appropriate support. And the tasking of the intervention provider was problematic, with a miscommunication leading to only one session being provided instead of two.”
The Met’s head of counter-terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, said: “It is clear from the Prevent learning review where the management and handling of Ali Harbi Ali’s case in 2014 should have been better.”
Croydon is a borough where its Safer Neighbourhood Panel – which has some public oversight of the Metropolitan Police – failed to hold any formal meetings between 2019 and 2025, and where it was decided not to conduct a serious case review, or equivalent, into the handling by responsible local agencies of Hassan Sentamu, the teenager in the Croydon care system who murdered schoolgirl Elianne Andam.
Read more: Mayor Perry accused of ‘cover up’ over Sentamu case review
Read more: MP’s murder: Police continue search of Croydon family home
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
