Terror probe closed before imam's murder - inquiry

Jalal Uddin was an imam in Rochdale and a father of seven

A former counter-terrorism detective agreed an investigation was prematurely closed into a man later convicted of helping an alleged extremist flee the UK after murdering an imam.

Former detective inspector Frank Morris, who retired from Greater Manchester Police in 2021, told a public inquiry the investigation into Mohammed Syadul Hussain should not have ended in 2014.

The inquiry is aiming to establish whether intelligence failures contributed to the death of imam Jalal Uddin, 71.

Father-of-seven Mr Uddin was bludgeoned with a hammer in a children's play area in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on 18 February 2016.

Hussain, from Rochdale, came under police scrutiny after his eight-year-old nephew in Hull went into school saying he wanted to join the Taliban, the hearing at Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Hussain was subsequently jailed for five years for helping Mohammed Kadir, then 24, flee the UK for Syria.

Kadir is believed to have struck the fatal blows and planned the killing of Mr Uddin with former Manchester United steward Mohammed Syeedy, then 21, who drove Kadir to the scene and helped carry out surveillance on their target.

Kadir fled the UK three days after the killing with the help of Hussain.

Syeedy was convicted in September 2016 of murdering Mr Uddin and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Both Kadir and Syeedy were sympathisers of the Islamic State militant group and were consumed by hatred of Mr Uddin for his practice of Ruqyah, a form of exorcism, which the terror organisation considered "black magic", the inquiry has heard.

Jalal Uddin was bludgeoned with a hammer in a children's play area in Rochdale

The second day of three days of public evidence heard Hussain's home was raided in August 2014 with his phone and other devices seized.

Police found images of extremist propaganda, photos of terrorist leaders, including photos of Osama Bin Laden and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, weapons and execution videos.

Officers concluded he posed a "significant risk" to himself and others of radicalisation, though no actual terror offences were detected and he was not arrested or charged.

Former detective Mr Morris told the inquiry: "It was not unusual to find images of this kind on devices seized at this time."

However, police failed to look at the communications on his phone, which would have revealed his second most regular contact was Kadir, and the investigation into Hussain was closed.

He was referred instead to Prevent, the government's anti-radicalisation programme.

Threats on phone

Mr Morris agreed communications between the men should have been reviewed and the investigation kept open until that had taken place.

Sophie Cartwright KC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Morris about one particular WhatsApp exchange with Kadir later recovered from Hussain's phone where he said former prime minister Tony Blair "needs killing."

Mr Morris said: "Mr Blair at the time was not a favourite of any Islamists, with the war in Iraq.

"I think there was a lot of English people about at that time who did not like Tony Blair and called him a war criminal."

But Mr Morris said even if they had known about the two men's communications it is unlikely counter-terror police would have acted differently other than to possibly gather more intelligence on Kadir.

Judge Thomas Teague KC is chairman of the inquiry, much of which has been held in secret or "closed" session to protect national security, which will focus on whether there was any intelligence failures which contributed to the murder.

The hearing continues.