The Manchester Arena bomber plotter who attacked three prison officers has been moved to one of 12 ‘super cells’ within the UK’s most secure jail unit, it’s understood.
Hashem Abedi is accused of attacking the three officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham with boiling oil and makeshift blades on Saturday March 12th.
Since the attack the 28-year-old, who is serving a 55-year sentence for helping his brother Salman carry out the devastating 2017 terror attack that killed 22 people, has been placed under the highest security.
This is understood to have involved transferring him to Belmarsh prison in London where he is now caged in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the Category A facility which holds the majority of the UK’s terror suspects and other major organised crime figures.
The HSU consists of 48 single cells, with a dozen of these being used to house Britain’s most dangerous criminals.
Past inmates in the HSU included feared gangster Colin Gunn, serving 35-years for drugs and conspiracy to murder and Michael Adebolajo, then 28, one of the killers of Fusilier Rigby, in May 2013.
In more recent times, Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped and strangled Sarah Everard, 33, in 2021, was held in one of the 12 super secure cells for his own protection. Couzens, then 48, was given a whole-life sentence.
The 12 highest security cells are collectively known as Special Secure Unit (SSU) for ‘exceptional risk’ prisoners. Hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza was held in the SSU before being deported to a US jail.
A source said: ‘The HSU has the highest security status as it holds the worst-of-the-worst criminals, who are isolated from the main prison population because they present a constant danger.’
The decision to transfer Abedi to Belmarsh is controversial as he had previously been held at the maximum security jail and in 2020 had assaulted two officers.
For the attack, a further three years and 10 months was added to his sentence.
Under his new regime in the SSU, he will be locked and unlocked by a minimum of five prison officers.
Security on the HDU includes x-ray machines, numerous CCTV cameras and at least five locked doors before getting inside.
Visitors and prison officers must go through the same searches before they enter.
previously reported that prison staff at Belmarsh are said to be deeply uneasy about the decision, particularly given Abedi’s history of violence.
In the 2020 attack, Abedi and two other inmates ambushed officer Paul Edwards in his office.
He is now being held under the ‘multi-unlock protocol’, meaning five officers must be present each time his cell door is opened, alongside another who must wear riot gear and film the interaction.
In response to the latest incident, the Ministry of Justice has suspended kitchen access for inmates in specialist extremist wings, known as separation centres, at Frankland and HMP Woodhill.
These units house some of the UK’s most dangerous ideologues and were designed to stop radicalisation behind bars.
Counterterrorism police are investigating the Frankland attack, and a full independent review is expected to be launched by the end of the week.
There are also questions over whether Abedi may have been influenced by notorious Islamist extremist Anjem Choudary, who was also housed at Frankland. Officials have dismissed such claims as ‘speculation’.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said it did not comment on the location of prisoners.