Forbury Gardens terror attack victims’ families welcome pledges for change from Home Secretary

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has written to the families of James Furlong and Joseph Ritche-Bennett, acknowledging that Prevent was “not working as it should” at the time that James, Joseph and Dr David Wails were killed in the June 2020 attack. 

In her letter, Ms Cooper details improvements she will make in response to calls by the families for urgent change.  

James, Joseph, and David were murdered in Reading in 2020 by Khairi Saadallah, who was known to numerous state agencies prior to the attack including Prevent, MI5, counter-terrorism police, prison and probation services, and mental health services.  

After an inquest into their deaths, a judge coroner concluded that state agencies could have prevented the attack, and that had Saadallah’s extremist risk been “better analysed” then he likely would have been recalled to custody before the attacks occurred.  He issued a prevention of future deaths report, recommending:

Information sharing to the fullest extent permissible should form a part of the new ways of working which have been promised by mental health service providers, as this is vital for ensuring that high-risk individuals are dealt with appropriately and that opportunities for protecting the organisation’s staff and the public are increased.  

Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust should regularly assess whether those who pose a major risk akin to that of Khairi Saadallah are included rather than excluded by medium and long-term mental health services and receiving the support, treatment and coordinated care they need. The effectiveness of services should be rigorously and regularly assessed. 

Prisoners demonstrating similar risk factors to Saadallah should be offered the opportunity to take part in long-term psychology sessions. Oxford Health Foundation Trust, which now provides mental health services to HMP Bullingdon and HMP Huntercombe, should address this issue.

The families of James, David and Joseph have all called for change. James’ and Joseph’s families had a meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss what improvements are being made to the Prevent programme and other anti-terror measures, as well as immigration enforcement.

Ms Cooper has now written a letter laying out the changes that are being made. In the letter, she said there had been a “lack of understanding of the cumulative risk” of someone with repeated Prevent referrals combined with a history of violent behaviour and mental ill-heath. 

Ms Cooper has detailed improvements to identifying risks and making referrals, including updated training for frontline Prevent staff and counter-terrorism police, as well as a new joint Prevent case management system between the Home Office and counter-terrorism police.

The letter also lays out changes to the management of counter-terrorism cases in prisons and plans to continue monitoring and evaluation of Prevent and other counter-terrorism initiatives. 

The changes have been welcomed by James Furlong’s parents, Gary and Jan Furlong, who say they now hope to see positive impacts from improvements.

Gary and Jan Furlong also requested a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to address the points raised by the coroner around mental health provisions for individuals identified as posing a high-risk. These requests have not yet been accepted.

Gary Furlong said:

“This letter shows that change can be achieved when families and victims fight hard enough. However, it remains a tragedy the human cost that has been suffered in order to take these forward steps. Our hope now is that the improvements laid out by Yvette Cooper in her letter will have the desired positive effect, and that other families will not have to suffer as we have.

“We now call on Wes Streeting to meet with us so we can look at tackling the problems highlighted by the coroner about how the mental health care of high-risk individuals is managed. The Forbury Gardens attack came after a collective failure across multiple public services and agencies. The Home Secretary has helped us to address some of those failings, and we hope that the Health Secretary will now also take steps to deal with the issues raised.” 

Leigh Day partner Benjamin Burrows, who represents all of the victims’ families, said:

“I am pleased that our clients’ meeting with the Home Secretary has had a positive outcome, and that steps are being taken to address matters of concern. Time will ultimately tell whether these steps will be effective, and it may be that further changes are needed as the issue of Prevent in regard to the Southport killings continues to be assessed.  

“While this meeting with Yvette Cooper is a step in the right direction, the UK’s anti-terror measures were not the only thing scrutinised at the inquest into the deaths of James, David and Joseph. The coroner also raised serious concerns with the mental health care of Saadallah, and our clients remain determined to speak with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to address these.”