Major change to prison kitchen use after Manchester Arena terrorist's horror oil attack

Prisoners being housed in separation centres have been banned from using kitchens after Arena bomber Hashem Abedi allegedly attacked three prison officers with hot cooking oil.

Abedi threw hot cooking oil over three officers on Saturday before stabbing them with "home-made weapons", the Prison Officers' Association (POA) said. The officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the incident in HMP Frankland, Country Durham. Two of the officers remain in hospital in a stable condition. Abedi allegedly collected sachets of butter and melted the contents, before throwing the hot oil over a female prison officer.

He is then said to have slashed the officers with two homemade weapons. It is thought the makeshift weapons may have been carved out of baking trays from the cooking area in the separation unit.

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The officer stabbed in the neck is believed to have severed an artery and the officer who was stabbed in the back suffered a punctured lung. A source said of the attack: "It was horrific and a total bloodbath."

Abedi is serving at least 55 years behind bars after helping his suicide bomber brother Salman plan the 2017 attack, which killed 22 innocent people and injured hundreds outside Manchester Arena after an concert.

Abedi has previously been found guilty, along with other convicts, of a vicious attack on a prison officer at Belmarsh jail in South East London in 2020.

Category A is the highest level of security and Frankland has housed other notorious inmates, including Fusilier Lee Rigby's terrorist killer Michael Adebolajo, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, and Charles Bronson.

Frankland also has a separation centre. These centres, introduced in 2017, aim to control and contain prisoners with extreme views, for example by preventing them from disrupting the prison estate, supporting acts of terrorism or radicalising other inmates.

It is understood that the new ban will apply specifically to kitchens in separation centres.

On Sunday morning, Prison Officers' Association national chairman Mark Fairhurst said Abedi carried out the attack in a separation centre where inmates are allowed to use cooking facilities. He told the : "To allow that type of prisoner to access the kitchen and use the utensils that can be used as weapons against staff, and can inflict serious harm on staff, that needs to be removed immediately.

"We're now worried about the knock-on effect of this and copycat incidents. It's very difficult to get someone into the separation centre because of the process you have to go through, so the intelligence really needs to be on the ball to get someone contained in the separation centre."

The Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood said at the weekend: "I am appalled by the attack of three brave officers.

"My thoughts are with them and their families. The police are now investigating. I will be pushing for the strongest possible punishment. Violence against our staff will never be tolerated."