Islamic State murder plot missed due to 'serious blunder', inquiry finds

A "serious blunder" by officials meant they failed to disrupt a murder plot against an imam by Islamic State (IS) extremists, an inquiry has found.

Father-of-seven Jalal Uddin, 71, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in Rochdale in February 2016 by Mohammed Kadir, who believed the imam was involved in a form of "black magic". Kadir, then 24 and a former call-centre worker from Oldham, fled to Syria, but his getaway driver, former Manchester United steward Mohammed Syeedy, 21 at the time and from Rochdale, was jailed for life in 2016.

A third man, Mohammed Syadul Hussain, 21 and also from Rochdale, was jailed in 2017 for five years for helping Kadir leave the UK. A report from a public inquiry into the incident found all three men had previously come to the attention of the police and counter terrorism officers, but investigations into Kadir and Hussain were hampered by "serious mistakes".

The exact details of what happened have not been made public, and reporters were barred from some of the inquiry's hearings to protect national security. A report from His Honour Thomas Teague KC, who chaired the inquiry, said: "In summary, my conclusion is that this failure, the detailed consequences of which I have traced in my closed report, amounted to a serious blunder that led to the loss of two opportunities to detect or disrupt the activities of Kadir and Syeedy before Mr Uddin was murdered." During Syeedy's trial, the prosecution said Mr Uddin's killers had grown to hate him because he practised a type of religious healing, considered by supporters of IS to be a form of "black magic" and punishable by death.

The inquiry found Kadir was known to Counter Terrorism Police at the time of Mr Uddin's murder, and by the end of October 2015 had been identified as a person of high risk and significant concern. But while it was recognised that his activities needed a targeted police investigation, action was not taken.

Former detective inspector Frank Morris, who retired from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in 2021, told the inquiry an investigation into Hussain had been closed down prematurely two years before the murder. Later, the failure to appoint a senior investigating officer (SIO) led to the two "missed opportunities".

Read more from Sky News:Iran's threat to UK 'increased significantly'Arrests over cyber attacks on retailersSummer's third heatwave set to hit The first related to Kadir's Facebook posts, which were captured by police but not reviewed before the murder, in which he described imams like Mr Uddin - originally from Bangladesh - as "dirty kufr people" and vowed to "take this on" to "paralyse them". Secondly, just a month before the killing, intelligence suggested Kadir had access to openly available extremist literature about bomb-making and violent jihad.

The report adds: "The failure to make a prompt and effective appointment of an SIO thus led to the irretrievable loss of opportunities which, had they been acted upon, might have prevented the murder of Jalal Uddin." Kadir's whereabouts are unknown. Syeedy is still serving his life sentence..