Parsons Green bomber ‘refused to agree’ to Prevent de-radicalisation scheme
The Parsons Green bomber refused to take part in the Government’s de-radicalisation programme Prevent, according to the teenager’s former mentor.
Kayte Cable, who acted as Ahmed Hassan’s mentor the year before he carried out his tube attack in September 2017, has appeared to contradict claims made by police that he was co-operating with the programme.
The 18-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker injured 51 commuters on a tube train with a homemade explosive.
Surrey County Council, which was responsible for Hassan’s care, said it ‘didn’t need’ his consent to enrol him in the Prevent scheme in 2016 because he was underage.
Mc Cable said this lack of consent meant Hassan was not properly engaged with the programme.
She told the BBC: ‘It is a matter of conscience for me that we learn from this terrible event and do everything in our power to ensure that nothing like Parsons Green ever happens again.
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‘If we don’t have complete transparency about what happened, I don’t see how this is possible.’
A council spokesman said: ‘Because Hassan was under the age of 18, or claimed to be, we didn’t need his consent to put him onto Channel.
‘The county council gave consent on Hassan’s behalf because he was under our care.’
Hassan was alerted to police and Prevent over comments he made in an immigration interview in January 2015, when he claimed he had been recruited by Islamic State in Iraq and had been ‘trained to kill’.
The Metropolitan Police said Hassan appeared to be engaging with its Channel programme – part of the Prevent scheme.
Hassan was jailed for a minimum of 34 years earlier this month after he was found guilty of attempted murder.