UK police sorry for missing chance to stop attack
British police have apologized for a “missed opportunity” to possibly stop a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester, as an associate of the attacker was jailed for helping carry out earlier reconnaissance at a defense site in the United Kingdom.
Mohammed Asim Bashir, 31, admitted in June that he took Jihad Al-Shamie to the UK Defense Academy in Oxfordshire, central England, in August 2025 to conduct hostile reconnaissance.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb sentenced Bashir to a minimum of 17 years in prison on Thursday, describing him as a “determined jihadist” who enthusiastically planned a terrorist attack with Al-Shamie.
Messages between Bashir and Al-Shamie included discussions of violence and revealed anti-Semitic views.
Six weeks after their trip to Oxfordshire, Al-Shamie drove his car into pedestrians before attacking people with a knife at the Heaton Park Hebrew Community Synagogue.
One Jewish worshiper died from stab wounds, and another was accidentally shot and killed by police.
Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian origin, told police he was acting on behalf of the Islamic State before officers shot him dead.
Prosecutors said at Bashir’s sentencing at Manchester Crown Court that Al-Shamie had been arrested twice before his fatal attack: in February 2025 for allegedly breaching a no-harassment order and again in September for alleged rape.
The court heard their mobile devices were seized but the materials on them were examined following Al-Shamie’s attack.
Chief Constable Stephen Watson, of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said he was “deeply regretful” that police had failed to examine the data, which contained crucial evidence of Al-Shamie’s mentality.
“It is clear that not reviewing the data we had before the attack was a missed opportunity,” Watson said in a statement. he said.
Prosecutors said Bashir took Al-Shamie on a 10-hour round trip from Manchester in August 2025 to the UK Defense Academy, which provides defense and security training to armed forces and government personnel.
In October the same year, Al-Shamie attacked the Heaton Park synagogue before calling the police, saying: “I pledge allegiance to ISIS and I have killed two Jews.”
GMP’s Watson said it was for the Independent Office for Police Conduct and investigations into the deaths to “determine the impact of not reviewing the contents of the devices”.
“However, there can be little doubt that the information contained in these devices will inspire further investigative action,” he said.
