Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson apologized after admitting that mobile phones seized from Manchester synagogue attacker Jihad Al-Shamie during two separate arrests months before the October 2025 car and knife rampage were never examined, missing critical evidence of an extremist mindset.
Missed Seizures and Unexamined Phones Before the Synagogue Attack
Jihad Al-Shamie carried out a deadly attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Crumpsall on 2 October 2025, during which two Jewish men were killed. Months before that assault, authorities had seized mobile devices from the 35-year-old attacker on two separate occasions—following arrests for allegedly violating a court stay-away order in February and on suspicion of rape in September. At the time of the synagogue attack, Al-Shamie was on bail for an alleged rape. Yet, those devices sat unanalyzed.
The phones contained substantial evidence of an extremist mindset, including messages between Al-Shamie and a co-conspirator.
Greater Manchester Police disclosed Thursday that messages between the two men were discovered on the two phones seized from Al-Shamie earlier in 2025. Sir Stephen Watson said that in conducting an internal review, it became apparent that GMP had seized Al-Shamie’s mobile devices at the point of each arrest. Sir Stephen stated, The significance of the data contents of these devices was substantial in respect of evidencing an extremist mindset.
Uncovering a Second Terror Plot Against the UK Defense Academy
While investigating the October synagogue attack, authorities stumbled upon a parallel plot targeting military infrastructure. apnews.com reported that Al-Shamie had conspired with Mohammad Bashir to target the U.K.’s Defense Academy at Shrivenham in Oxfordshire. Bashir’s friend believed the U.K. was training Israeli Defense Forces, and the pair planned similar violence at the facility that trains British troops.
Two months before the synagogue attack, Bashir drove Al-Shamie several hours from Manchester to the defense academy in Oxfordshire to scope it out. They discussed how they would enter the base, what weapons to use and how they would use a fake suicide vest. Al-Shamie had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Bashir during sentencing, I am sure that you and he anticipated that you would both be martyred and you intended to kill others.
Justice Cheema-Grubb added, This was a viable plan to attack the Defense Academy in a broadly similar way to that in which that Al-Shamie attacked the synagogue; using handheld weapons and a dummy suicide vest to cause as much bloodshed as possible.
The attack never occurred, and prosecutors said there was no evidence Bashir played a role in the later synagogue attack. During the October 2 attack on Yom Kippur, Al-Shamie drove his car into people gathered outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and fatally stabbed one man. Another man died after being inadvertently shot by police as he and other congregants barricaded a door to prevent Al-Shamie from entering. Three other men were hospitalized with serious injuries, and Al-Shamie was shot dead by police.
Sentencing and the Lifted Legal Restrictions on Police Disclosures
Mohammad Bashir pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to preparing an act of terrorism. Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb sentenced the 31-year-old to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years behind bars before any possibility of release.
Bashir left the U.K. two days after the synagogue attack and was arrested at the Manchester airport in November when he returned from a family wedding in Pakistan. Sir Stephen Watson said the end of legal proceedings against Mohammad Bashir—who has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years for plotting a separate attack with Al-Shamie—meant rules around sharing information about a live criminal case had been lifted.
Independent Oversight and What Lies Ahead
With internal reviews complete and criminal proceedings against Bashir concluded, the Independent Office for Police Conduct will determine if discovering the messages sooner could have prevented the fatal attack at Heaton Park Synagogue.
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