Call for greater protection for prison officers after Hashem Abedi attack (2025)

HMP Frankland staff 'traumatised, fragile and angry'

A union boss said prison officers need 'protective equipment' and the Government should lower their retirement age.

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, spoke out after Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi is understood to have been moved out of HMP Frankland in Durham to Belmarsh high-security prison in south east London after attacking three prison officers.

The guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons at Frankland.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said it will carry out a review and the Prime Minister's spokesman said the Government would urgently investigate what happened. But Mr Fairhurst said the Government 'haven't even announced who's doing it yet' or released any terms of reference or scope for the review.

After visiting HMP Frankland, he said the separation unit where the attack happened had been 'decanted' because 'it's a crime scene'. He also described staff there as 'traumatised, fragile and angry' over what he called the 'appeasement' of violent offenders.

Mr Fairhurst said he would be meeting the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, next Wednesday to discuss the incident. He told the Press Association: "It highlights how dangerous our job is. We need protective equipment issued to us. The Government need to lower our retirement age."

He said staff at Frankland were 'traumatised, fragile and angry' over what he called the 'appeasement' of violent offenders. And while strike action is banned for prison officers, he said health and safety legislation that could be considered, adding: "Everyone deserves to be safe at work."

Mr Fairhurst said two of the staff members were still in hospital.

His comments come as the attack by Abedi was described as a “catastrophic failure” of duty by the Justice Secretary, in a letter from one of the survivors of the Arena bombing. In an open letter to Ms Mahmood and the MoJ, Martin Hibbert said he was “absolutely disgusted – beyond words” to hear about the attack.

“Let’s call this what it is: a catastrophic failure of your duty to protect prison staff and the public from an unrepentant terrorist,” he wrote in the letter posted on social media. Not only was Abedi allowed the freedom to move around and use facilities that should never be available to someone like him – he was able to track and target three prison guards using boiling oil and homemade weapons.”

Mr Hibbert suffered life-changing injuries at the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, and was left with a spinal cord injury. His daughter, Eve, suffered severe brain damage in the attack, which killed 22 people.

“I was told justice would be served. What I see now is not justice. It’s a shameful lack of accountability and basic prison security” said Mr Hibbert. "I'm not just angry. I'm broken by this. And I am furious that the pain of survivors like me is being so blatantly disrespected by your inaction."

He called for Abedi to be stripped of access to any areas where he could make or find weapons. “This cannot continue. Something drastic needs to be done. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now,” he wrote. “Because right now, it feels like you’ve forgotten us.”

Families of five of the victims, Megan Hurley, Eilidh Macleod, Chloe Rutherford, Liam Curry and Kelly Brewster, wrote to the Justice Secretary expressing “absolute disbelief” at the attack, the BBC reported. The broadcaster said it had seen the letter, which read: “In our view, he should not be allowed any privileges whatsoever while serving a sentence for the deaths of 22 innocent lives and the injuring of many more. He should not have access to anything that he can weaponise, such as hot oil or items he can turn into blades.”

The families have called for Abedi to be put in permanent solitary confinement.

Abedi planned and prepared the attack with his brother, the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, and was extradited from Libya to the UK. He was sentenced to a record 55-year minimum term before he could be considered for parole, in 2020, for 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

Counter Terrorism Policing North East, meanwhile, said on Wednesday and investigation was ongoing and gave no further update.