A jailed jihadi was put in segregation for plotting to behead prison guards – but a judge has ruled that the move breached his human rights.

Nadir Syed, 24, was placed in isolation at the top-security Woodhill jail after he led other Muslim inmates in chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is Great’), banging on cell doors and threatening to decapitate warders.

Documents seen by The Mail on Sunday reveal that staff were warned not to be left alone with him to ‘prevent the risk of hostage-taking’, while Syed had also claimed he would ‘radicalise the whole unit’ in another prison.

Prison officers have been warned about the dangers of possible radicalism in British prisons, although this Muslim inmate has not been suspected of any form of extremism or terrorism

Nadir Syed, 24, was placed in isolation at the top-security Woodhill Jail over fears he was trying to radicalise an entire unit and led fellow inmates to shout Allahu Akbar and threaten staff

But Syed, serving a life sentence for planning to behead a poppy-seller in a Lee Rigby-style attack, successfully sued the Ministry of Justice after he was placed in a unit by himself.

The astonishing revelation comes just two days after the Government announced a flagship policy to tackle radicalisation behind bars, with special ‘prisons within prisons’ being set up this summer to hold the most dangerous extremists.

Ministers are taking the drastic step amid growing concern that hundreds of vulnerable inmates are at risk of having their minds warped by extremists and being turned into terrorists when they are released.

Last night Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley who sits on the Justice Select Committee, said: ‘It’s all right for the judge respecting the human rights of the prisoner, but what about the human rights of the prison staff he was threatening to behead? The reason why so many people have lost faith in the justice system is because you get ridiculous decisions like that.’

He added: ‘I welcome the new separation centres for extremist prisoners because they often target other, more vulnerable prisoners and radicalise them. But there is a risk that extremist inmates will launch legal action against the new jails on human rights grounds, and a judge might rule in their favour and undermine the whole thing.’

Syed, from Hounslow, West London, is serving life for plotting to behead a poppy-seller on Remembrance Sunday with a 12in kitchen knife, inspired by the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby on the streets of London four years ago. When he was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years last year, Syed was told he may never be released to protect the public.

But chillingly, he remains intent on carrying out a beheading, even while locked up in Britain’s most secure institutions.

According to court documents, the authorities claim that while he was on remand before his trial began, Syed had ‘commented that, if he were convicted (as he was in December 2015), he would carry out the act that he was in prison for (that is, the act of preparing for an act of terrorism by acquiring a knife in order to kill, and behead, a person)’.

Police recovered this knife from Syed at the time of his arrest days before he planned to decapitate a poppy seller following the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby

Just weeks after he was found guilty of preparation of terrorist acts, he was heard making murderous threats at Category A Woodhill jail in Buckinghamshire. ‘On the morning of January 7, 2016, there were reports that the claimant was part of a group of prisoners who were hitting cell doors, stating that officers oppressed Muslims, shouting Allahu Akbar and uttering threats of beheading,’ according to the High Court judgment.

When a guard entered Syed’s cell, the prisoner said that if officers ‘violated one [Muslim] brother, they violate all’, making more threats to behead prison staff all morning.

He then tried to get one particular officer to come into his cell, which the judge concluded was ‘an aggressive act and, indeed, reflects the same kind of hostility that had led to the act resulting in his conviction’. Syed was put in a segregation cell shortly afterwards, and weeks later was placed in a secure wing called the Central Managing Challenging Behaviour Unit (CMCBSU), because of the threat he posed to guards, and because of the fear that he was inciting other inmates to attack warders.

Prison authorities want to keep Syed in a special unit at HMP Woodhill for the safety of staff, but he has appealed the decision to the High Court under Article 8 of the ECHR

A Prison Service assessment of him said: ‘Mr Syed has a lot of intelligence stating that he has intentions to take staff hostage and behead them. He is also documented inciting others to disruptive behaviour and at HMP Belmarsh took part in this in the segregation unit, at the time he was also calling out “this is jihad”, and he threatened to radicalise the whole unit. Mr Syed presents a risk to others, especially staff and should be treated as such at all times. Staff are not to be alone with him to prevent the risk of hostage-taking.’

How staff segregate dangerous inmates Currently, prisoners considered a risk can be held in segregation in their cells. About 60 of the country’s most dangerous criminals are taken out of main wings and locked up in Closed Supervision Centres, with little human contact. Others are put in less restrictive Managing Challenging Behaviour Strategy Units, where they are closely monitored but are allowed to mix with fellow inmates. Now the MoJ is creating three new ‘Separation Centres’ for extremists deemed a threat to national security or who are trying to radicalise inmates. Advertisement

Despite the danger that he posed to staff, a High Court judge has ruled that Woodhill prison breached Syed’s human rights by locking him in the CMCBSU.

His lawyers argued that restricting his ability to talk to other prisoners breached his right to respect for his private life under Article 8 of the controversial European Convention on Human Rights.

And Mr Justice Lewis agreed that Syed’s confinement was unlawful because the prison authorities did not notify him beforehand that he was to be placed in the unit, and thereby give him an opportunity to respond. The detention was ‘unlawful’ because it was ‘procedurally flawed’. In a ruling seen by this newspaper, the judge said: ‘There has been an interference with the claimant’s right to respect for his private life and… the interference was not justified.’

The Ministry of Justice has refused to say if Syed is back at a normal cell at Woodhill. Last night a spokesman would say only: ‘We are considering the implications of this judgment carefully, including whether to appeal.’

Syed’s case highlights the danger that jihadi prisoners pose in British jails. Of the 13,000 Muslim inmates in the country’s prisons, about 1,000 are either extremists or are vulnerable to radicalisation, a parliamentary report found last year.

Some of Britain’s most dangerous extremists are believed to have been radicalised while in custody. Westminster killer Khalid Masood, 52, is believed to have converted to Islam in prison and became radicalised. Richard Reid, 44, the Briton who was convicted in the US of trying to blow up an airliner with a bomb hidden in his shoe, is also believed to have converted to Islam while in prison.

The problem is deemed so serious that the Ministry of Justice has revealed it will open a ‘prison within a prison’ in the maximum-security Frankland facility in County Durham in the coming weeks. It will be followed by two more in other jails.

Michael Adebolajo, 32, who killed Fusilier Rigby in South-East London in 2013, is in Frankland, as is Dhiren Barot, 45, who was convicted in 2006 of a plot to explode a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ in London. Experts believe other notorious extremists such as hate preacher Anjem Choudary, 50, the leader of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun, will be locked up at the new separation centre in Frankland.

Critics have described the ‘jail within a jail’ as Britain’s answer to Guantanamo Bay, but the MoJ says the move is essential to protect other inmates from being radicalised.

The MoJ also said far-Right extremists will be put in the special centres with the jihadis. A briefing note says: ‘Referral to a Separation Centre is non-discriminatory and may include Right-wing extremists or religious extremists.’