Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Life sentence for Whitemoor prison attack convicts

Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and Baz Macaulay Hockton, 26, convicted of trying to murder a prison officer in Whitemoor prison in eastern England were handed life sentences.

The two wore fake suicide belts and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater) as they launched the attack in January this year.


The pair targeted officer Neil Trundle with makeshift bladed weapons and blows, and also injured another officer and a nurse who intervened in the maximum security facility.

The judge at London's Old Bailey court hearing the case on Thursday(8) decided it had "a terrorist connection", resulting in heavier sentences, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Its counter-terrorism branch investigated the offences, which are believed to be the first acts of terrorism in a British jail outside Northern Ireland.

"This was a calculated and horrific attack by two very dangerous prisoners who had one aim -- to try and murder prison staff," Richard Smith, head of the Met unit, said.

"Our investigation showed they were motivated to carry out this attack by their extreme ideology."

Ziamani received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years for attempted murder, as well as two years for actual bodily harm against the nurse and four months for common assault against the other officer.

The terms will all run concurrently.

He is already five years into a 19-year sentence for a 2014 terror plot to behead a soldier inspired by the high-profile murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

Hockton, a Muslim convert who was radicalised in jail, got a minimum term of 23 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.

He also faces 10 years for another assault at a different prison in 2019, which will run concurrently.

Passing sentence, the judge said the duo had been "inspired by extremist beliefs" and that their "twisted view of Islam" must change before they are ever released.

There has been a sharp increase in prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offences, sparking growing concerns that other inmates may become radicalised.

The government says it has trained around 20,000 staff in extremism awareness training, and employs multi-faith chaplaincy teams in all prisons.

It has also opened two so-called Separation Centres where individuals considered to pose the biggest risk are kept away from the main prison population.

More For You

King Charles

King Charles, wearing a black armband to pay respects to the victims of Air India plane crash, attends the Trooping the Colour parade on his official birthday in London. (Photo: Reuters)

Air India crash: Victims remembered during King Charles's birthday parade

A MINUTE's silence for the victims of the Air India plane crash was observed on Saturday during the Trooping the Colour parade in London marking King Charles's official birthday. Some members of the royal family wore black armbands during the ceremony.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said King Charles, 76, had requested changes to the parade “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy”.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rochdale grooming case

They were all remanded in custody, except Bashir, who absconded before the trial began. (Photo: Greater Manchester Police)

Seven men convicted of raping 13-year-old girls in Rochdale grooming case

SEVEN men were convicted on Friday in the UK’s latest grooming trial, after a jury heard that two girl victims were forced to have sex “with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses”.

Jurors at the court in Manchester, northwest England, deliberated for three weeks before finding the seven men, all of whom are of South Asian descent, guilty of rape.

Keep ReadingShow less
karan-thakar

Karun Thakar is a leading textile collector with a lifelong focus on Asian and African textiles

Karun Collection

Karun Thakar Fund to support textile research with scholarships and grants

THE KARUN THAKAR FUND, established by textile collector Karun Thakar in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), supports the study of Asian and African textiles and dress through scholarships and project grants.

The fund offers one-time Scholarship Awards of up to £10,000 for university students worldwide focusing on any aspect of Asian or African textiles and dress. Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students from any accredited university are eligible, provided their research or practice is clearly linked to these areas. The next round of Scholarship Award applications opens on 1 May 2025 and closes at 23:59 on July 15, 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India

A view shows the wreckage of the tail section of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from airport in Ahmedabad. (Photo: Reuters)

Air India crash: Probe focuses on engine and flaps; safety checks ordered for 787 fleet

THE INVESTIGATION into the Air India crash that killed more than 240 people is focusing on the aircraft's engine, flaps, and landing gear.

The Indian aviation regulator has ordered safety checks on the airline’s entire Boeing 787 fleet, reported Reuters.

Keep ReadingShow less