UK cops apologize for missed opportunity in last years synagogue attack by committed jihadist

LONDON, July 23 – British police apologized on Thursday for a “missed opportunity” to possibly stop a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue last year, as an associate of the attacker was jailed ​for helping carry out earlier reconnaissance on a UK defense site.Mohammad Asim Bashir, 31, last ‌month admitted driving Jihad Al-Shamie to the UK Defence Academy in Oxfordshire, central England, in August 2025 to carry out hostile reconnaissance.Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb sentenced Bashir on Thursday to a minimum of 17 years in prison, describing ​him as a “committed jihadist” who had enthusiastically planned a terrorist attack with Al-Shamie.Messages between ​Bashir and Al-Shamie included discussions about violence and revealed their antisemitic views.Six weeks ⁠after their trip to Oxfordshire, Al-Shamie drove a car into pedestrians before attacking people with a ​knife at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.One Jewish worshipper died from stab wounds and ​another was accidentally shot dead by the police.Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, told police he was acting for Islamic State before officers shot him dead.Prosecutors said at Bashir’s sentencing at Manchester Crown Court this ​week that Al-Shamie was arrested twice before his fatal attack; in February 2025 for allegedly breaching ​a non-molestation order and again in September for an alleged rape.His mobile devices were seized but it was not ‌until ⁠after Al-Shamie’s attack that the material on them was examined, the court heard.Chief Constable Stephen Watson from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said in a statement that he was “deeply sorry” that the force did not review the data which contained significant evidence of Al-Shamie’s mindset.“It is clear that our ​not having reviewed the ​data available to us ⁠prior to the attack constitutes a missed opportunity,” Watson said.Prosecutors said Bashir had driven Al-Shamie on a 10-h...