The Manchester synagogue terrorist was on police bail for an alleged rape when he carried out the attack, the Guardian can reveal.Jihad al-Shamie, 35, was being investigated over an alleged sexual attack, which it is understood was said to have taken place earlier this year.The Syrian-born attacker is also believed to have criminal convictions, although he was not on the radar of counter-terrorism officers or of MI5.Police said on Friday night that they believed Shamie “may have been influenced by extreme Islamist ideology”, but added: “Establishing the full circumstances of the attack is likely to take some time.”Shamie was shot dead by armed police after killing a Jewish man and seriously injuring several others when he attacked the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in north Manchester on Thursday.The revelation emerged as:
Greater Manchester police said it appeared that armed officers at the synagogue accidentally shot one of the two victims killed during the terrorist attack and that they probably injured another after opening fire on the attacker.
Sources disclosed that counter-terrorism police were examining whether Shamie was responsible for a death threat sent to a former Conservative MP in 2012.
