The Greater Manchester Police force has made a jaw-dropping admission. It says it failed to check vital information contained on the Manchester synagogue attacker’s phone – even though he was arrested twice before he carried out his terror attack last year. Jihad al-Shamie was shot dead by police on 2 October last year during the attack at the Heaton Park synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Two worshippers were killed.
Sir Stephen Watson, the GMP chief constable, said he was ‘deeply sorry’ after admitting the phones of the terrorist were seized twice in the months before he carried out his attack: ‘In conducting an internal review, it became apparent that GMP had seized al-Shamie’s mobile devices, at the point of each arrest. The significance of the data contents of these devices was substantial in respect of evidencing an extremist mindset.’
‘Regrettably, I can confirm that the significance of the information stored on al-Shamie’s devices was not realised as they had not been examined before the attack took place on 2 October 2025.’
Watson characterised this damning failure as a ‘missed opportunity’ to potentially uncover the terror plot. The devices contained crucial data, including evidence of al-Shamie’s obsession with terrorism, but officers did not analyse their contents until after he had launched his attack on the synagogue.
