Algeria Gas Plant Attack Intel Shared Too Late

An "unnecessary and unintentional" delay meant intelligence about terrorists planning to kidnap British workers was not passed on before a gas plant siege which led to 40 deaths.

The Old Bailey inquest also found there were flaws in security and risk assessment at Algeria’s In Amenas complex, raided by al Qaeda-linked terrorists in January 2013.

Six Britons were killed in the four-day stand-off, as well as a UK-based Colombian.

The victims were: Carson Bilsland and Kenneth Whiteside from Scotland; Sebastian John from the East Midlands; Stephen Green from Hampshire; Paul Morgan and Garry Barlow from Liverpool; and Carlos Estrada, who lived in London.

The inquest heard how Mr Morgan was killed when the gunmen attacked his bus as it travelled to the airport, before laying siege to the gas plant.

A further four Britons and Mr Estrada died when they were used as human shields - with two of them probably hit by bullets from Algerian forces.

Mr Barlow, who turned 50 on the first day of the siege, was killed in an explosion on the last day of the attack.

There was no evidence of a specific threat to the plant at the time, said coroner Nicholas Hilliard QC, even though there was a general terror risk in Algeria.

Gates to the complex were left open at the time of the attack but the coroner said even if they had been closed it would only have delayed the terrorists.

The site is jointly run by BP, the Norwegian firm Statoil and Sonatrach, which is controlled by the Algerian government.

The inquest heard British intelligence had received information in December 2012 alleging unidentified terrorists were trying to get information about UK workers with an eye to kidnapping them.

Mr Hilliard said: "It was later established that the information was several months old when (the Government) received it. There was an unnecessary and unintentional delay in processing the information until after the attack had started."

The Government decided the intelligence was "questionable" and lacking in detail, but despite that the coroner said there was "a possibility that some of the information would have been passed to BP before the attack".

"It is clearly of vital importance that material of this kind is assessed in a timely fashion," he added.

He made no specific recommendations after hearing security at the plant had been improved and the Government was taking steps to prevent delays processing intelligence.