Home Office data reveals fewer than two in 10 people detained in England and Wales since 9/11 were convicted of terror offences

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The overwhelming majority of people arrested for alleged terrorism offences over the past 15 years have been freed without charge or conviction, official figures show.

Fewer than two in 10 people detained by police since September 2001 were convicted directly of terrorism or a terrorism-related offence.

The figures released by the Home Office showed that 3,349 people in England and Wales were arrested under terrorism laws since the 9/11 attacks on the US.



Of those arrested for terrorism and related offences, 17.8% were convicted in relation to involvement in violent jihad, for instance plotting attacks, funding or facilitating.

Another 10% arrested on suspicion of terrorism were convicted of offences unrelated to the terrorism charges they were originally arrested for, taking the total to 27.6%.

The majority of those arrested were from British Muslim communities.

The figures sparked debate about why most of those arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorism end up not being charged or convicted of any criminal offence.



Lord Paddick, the Lib Dem spokesman on home affairs in the House of Lords, and a former deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said: “The police need to account for these figures. It is extremely worrying that there is such a high attrition rate between those arrested and those convicted of terrorism offences.



“The most important thing with terrorism is community intelligence and building trust and confidence with those communities from where terrorists come. This sort of statistic will tend to undermine that trust and confidence.”

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “No one is arrested without sufficient grounds for suspicion but the legal bar for offences is rightly set very high, meaning many will not go on to be charged or convicted.

“These powers are applied appropriately and proportionately to keep the public safe and we do not target a specific community. We take all forms of terrorism and extremism seriously – including from the extreme right wing – and will work hard with all communities to tackle it.”

In Britain’s counter-terrorism system, intelligence is developed by the security service MI5, and then passed to police to take enforcement action and build a case that can convict someone to the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.

David Videcette, who served as a detective with Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command for a decade, said: “A lot of the information comes from the security services. A lot of what they give cannot be used as evidence; it is difficult to convert the intelligence into something that can be used in the criminal justice system.

“No one would thank the police if, because the intelligence cannot be converted, they did nothing.”

The Home Office said decisions to arrest were a matter for the police and decisions to prosecute a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service.

The latest terrorism figures showed arrests were down from their peak a year ago. Counter-terrorism officials say they are working flat out to thwart plots to attack the UK.

In 2001, the biggest threat was from al-Qaida, which was inspired by Osama bin Laden. Since 2014 the Islamic State ideology has been linked to most terror threats on British soil.

The security minister, Ben Wallace, said: “We are determined to detect, disrupt and where possible prosecute all those who pose a threat to the UK. The figures released today once again highlight the hard work carried out by the police, security service and Crown Prosecution Service day in and day out to keep the people of this country safe.”