Kitchen use suspended in high-security prison units after attack on officers

The government has suspended kitchen use in prison separation centres that are used to house a small number of the UK's most dangerous and extremist inmates, it is understood.

It comes after the Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi attacked three prison officers on Saturday in HMP Frankland.

Two male officers remain in hospital with serious injuries. A female officer was discharged from hospital on Saturday.

Abedi threw hot oil at the officers and stabbed them with blades fashioned from cooking trays, the prison officers' association (POA) has said.

Abedi had access to the kitchen in Frankland's separation centre, one of only two separation centres currently in use.

It is understood that Hashem Abedi was moved to the separation centre at HMP Full Sutton following the kitchen attack.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said there will be a full review into the incident.

Abedi was jailed for life with a minimum sentence of 55 years for helping his brother carry out the 2017 suicide bombing of an Ariana Grande concert.

Abedi had been a long-term inmate at HMP Frankland's separation centre, which holds fewer than 10 prisoners and is used to house those considered the most dangerous and extremist.

He moved to Frankland after carrying out an earlier attack on prison officers in London's HMP Belmarsh in 2020.

A sentence of three years and 10 months for this attack was added to his previous minimum term.

Earlier that same year, Abedi was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life over the Manchester Arena attack.

The separation model was introduced in 2017 with the aim of isolating and controlling prisoners who present a risk that could not be managed in a standard prison environment, according to the MoJ.

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the POA, called on the government to "restrict and remove cooking facilities from separation centres" following Saturday's attack.

"We are worried about the knock-on effects and copycat incidents," he said on Sunday.

Mr Fairhurst told the BBC he was "appalled" that offenders in these locations were being "allowed the same privileges as normal location prisoners".

"Separation centres should be for control and containment because these people are not going to change their ideologies and they are intent on inflicting harm on everyone they come into contact with," he said.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood also said she was "appalled" by the attack, and that she would be pushing for the "strongest possible punishment" for Abedi.