An Islamist who murdered two people and held a prison officer hostage has been handed nearly £250,000 of taxpayer-funded compensation and legal costs.
Fuad Awale is serving a life sentence for shooting two teenagers in the head in what a judge described as a planned “execution” in Milton Keynes’ Fishermead Estate in May 2011.
He then went on to ambush a prison officer and threatened to kill him unless Britain released hate preacher Abu Qatada.
After being moved to a special separation unit, he claimed this segregation had breached his right to a private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), suggesting he had suffered “severe depression” as a result of being denied contact with other inmates.
Now, Justice Secretary David Lammy has agreed to pay £7,500 in compensation and foot a £234,000 legal bill after a judge ruled that his treatment in jail breached his human rights.
The judge said: “The degree of interference with the claimant’s private life which has resulted from his removal from association has been of some significance and duration.”
During a hearing, the court was told Awale had been held in HMP Woodhill since 2021 and had not associated with any other prisoners since March 17, 2023, spending as little as one hour a day outside his cell.
His lawyers argued the decisions to deny association were “opaque”, he had been denied the chance to argue his case and prison managers had failed to regularly review his segregated conditions as required by law, reports The Telegraph.
A letter written by Mr Lammy, to his Conservative counterpart Robert Jenrick explaining the fees, said the £7,500 compensation sum was a “modest proportion” of the overall settlement.
He added it had been contested by the Ministry of Justice as was the case with “all litigation by prisoners convicted of terrorist offences”.
A review by the terror watchdog Jonathan Hall KC is currently being assessed which, alongside recommending an appeal into the Awale ruling, would look at how security could be improved after an alleged knife attack on three prison officers by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.
Mr Lammy told Mr Jenrick: “I can assure you that significant policy and operational changes are under active consideration to ensure that the legal framework regarding the placement in separation remains robust, relevant and trusted.”
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Mr Jenrick was quick to criticise Labour over the payment.
He wrote on social media: “Lammy put the ECHR above the safety of officers and the interests of the British people. It’s one of the most shameful acts by a Minister in recent times.
“Lammy could have appealed the courts decision to award compensation and costs. He didn’t. Lammy could have brought forward emergency legislation as I urged him to do. He didn’t.
“Instead he cowed to one of the most despicable terrorists in Britain and handed him a massive payout.”
Awale was sentenced to a minimum of 38 years prison in January 2013 after killing Mohammed Abdi Farah and Amin Ahmed Ismail in an alleyway over a drugs dispute.
In 2013, just days after the murder of British Army soldier Lee Rigby by Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in Woolwich, southeast London, Awale took a prison officer hostage and made threats to kill him.
He pointed a sharp implement at the throat of the officer who was pinned to a chair and said: “Stop struggling, I’ve killed two people, I’ll kill you.”
The ECHR court heard how, following his isolation, Awale had asked to associate with one of Rigby’s killers but was denied the request owing to “counter-terrorism concerns.”
More to follow…
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