Belmarsh Prison officer attacked by convicted terrorists in CCTV

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Hashem Abedi is currently serving 55 years for plotting the suicide bombing with brother Salman that left 22 dead in May 2017. A trial Woolwich Crown Court heard how he attacked Paul Edwards with Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan and Muhammed Saeed, who spoke about carrying out a knife attack in London.

The prison officer, 57, told the court he thought he would be killed when he was set upon by the trio on a high-security wing of HMP Belmarch on 11 May 2020.

Remorseless Abedi, 24, was seen smiling in CCTV footage before they stormed Mr Edwards’ office.

The custodian manager, who has worked at Belmarsh for 25 years, told jurors he was hit with a chair, repeatedly punched and kicked

He said: “I feared for my life, and I genuinely thought if I hadn’t fought back I would’ve ended up with at least extreme injuries or dead.”

He said “it felt like a lifetime” before colleagues, including Nick Barnett came to his aid seconds later.

“It was just like a pack of animals on Mr Edwards,” said Mr Barnett.

Mr Edwards was left with a laceration to his head, bruising to his back, rib cage and face and has lasting damage to his hearing.

All three prisoners denied assault causing actual bodily harm but were found guilty by a jury after about three and a half hours of deliberations.

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Abedi was also found guilty of assault by beating of an emergency worker over the attack on Mr Barnett.

Before he was sentenced, Abedi told the judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb: “I don’t think the sentence is going to make any difference.”

She sentenced him to another three years and 10 months consecutive to his current sentence.

Hassan, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 34 years, and Saeed, who is serving a five-year sentence, were both handed three-year jail terms.

The judge said they had “shown disrespect for society and its rules” with the prison officers facing “danger every single day”.

In a closing speech, Abedi said: “I don’t think we get treated like other prisoners.”

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