HATE preacher Anjem Choudary is suspected of inspiring the attack on three prison officers by Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi.
Choudary, 58, was shipped out of the jail where he was held with Abedi, 28, in a unit called a “prison within a prison” for jihadist fanatics.
Counter-terror police investigating the attempted murders of the prison staff are set to question Choudary over the background to the incident, sources said.
Prison officers believe Choudary — described as the ‘Daddy’ of the separation unit — may have encouraged Abedi to carry out the attack at Frankland jail, near Durham, on Saturday.
It is understood security intelligence reports by officers had previously identified the potential malign influence of Choudary on other inmates in the closed-off unit.
The notorious terror guru, serving life with a minimum of 28 years for masterminding a banned extremist group, was in the gym at the time of the attack with two other cons, sources said.
It meant there were fewer staff available when Abedi launched his assault just before lunchtime.
Abedi, serving a record 55-year minimum tariff for assisting his brother Salman’s 2017 suicide bomb which killed 22 others, emerged from a kitchen area brandishing a pan of boiling butter and two makeshift blades.
A female officer had the butter thrown in her face and two male colleagues suffered serious stab wounds.
Both male victims remain in hospital while their female colleague was discharged following treatment for third-degree burns.
Ex-prison governor Ian Acheson, who carried out a review of Islamist extremism in jails nine years ago, says Abedi should be kept in total isolation for the protection of staff even if it “turns him mad”,
Investigators will now be examining claims made by prison officers about Choudary’s influence at the separation unit.
All prisoners on the unit have been transferred to other jails and will be questioned separately.
A source said: “Choudary had become a leader of the unit and the younger extremists like Abedi looked up to him.
“There are suspicions that Abedi colluded with others.”
Police declined to discuss Choudary’s potential involvement.
THE families of five people murdered by Hashem Abedi in the Manchester Arena bombing have told the Justice Secretary of their “absolute disbelief” that he was allowed to attack prison officers.
In a letter to Shabana Mahmood yesterday, the victims’ relatives questioned how “evil Hashem Abedi has been allowed to cause danger to life”.
They said they find it beyond comprehension he was able to stab and scald three prison staff.
Families of Megan Hurley, Eilidh MacLeod, Chloe Rutherford, Liam Curry and Kelly Brewster wrote the letter.
The letter stated: “As broken families, we firmly believe the appropriate punishment for this individual should be permanent solitary confinement.”
The families said they thought prison would mean “confinement in a cell for 23 hours a day, meals served through a hatch, and a single hour outside, accompanied by a prison officer”.
They described this as the very minimum measure of justice for what he did.
The families asked Ms Mahmood to “consider the full gravity of Abedi’s actions when determining punishment”.
The letter said: “He should not be allowed any privileges while serving a sentence for the deaths of 22 innocent lives and the injuring of many more.”
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