The suspect responsible for the deadly attack at a Jewish house of worship in Manchester was free on bail from authorities related to an accusation of sexual assault when the incident took place, as per reports.
The attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, aged 35, was under investigation for the reported sexual assault that reportedly occurred in recent months.
The attacker, of Syrian origin, is believed to have a record of criminal offenses, though he was not being monitored from anti-terror authorities.
Shamie was fatally shot by responding police following the murder of a member of the Jewish community and caused serious harm to several other people during the attack at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester's northern area last Thursday.
Two men, Adrian Daulby, 53 and Melvin Cravitz, 66, lost their lives during the incident. One of them was fatally hit a round discharged by armed police aimed at Shamie.
Counter-terrorism police and security services are working to uncover the assailant's history, as it is believed that he chose the holiest day in Judaism, the highest holy day in the Jewish year, to attack those praying.
Although Shamie was not known to anti-terror organizations or referred to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent, he had been prosecuted for criminal offenses.
The exact timing the alleged sexual assault occurred, but the suspect was on bail while being investigated by local law enforcement.
One source stated that he possessed other criminal convictions, albeit for minor infractions with no connection to terrorism.
“No one suspected him of terrorism but he definitely had a criminal record, though no indication he was going to do anything like this,” said one source.
Police are looking into whether the attacker was behind a threatening message to a ex-Member of Parliament in 2012.
The email to John Howell was sent by someone identifying as “Jihad Alshamie” and said, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”
The former MP, who stepped down as MP for Henley in 2024, expressed uncertainty if it was the identical individual and felt that police did not treat the threat against his life with adequate seriousness back then.
A news report from that year suggested that Howell was likely targeted due to his support for Israel.
“The last thing I want to appear as is a drama queen, but you have to take seriously a threat when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead,’” the former MP said in 2012, according to coverage from media outlets.
“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is weird enough, with a warped perspective of life, to make an attempt to carry this out.” He noted that Thames Valley police had given him “extremely good security advice.”
Law enforcement have not confirmed whether the “Jihad Alshamie” who contacted Howell is the identical person who carried out the assault on the synagogue, but they are exploring a possible link.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said that the attacker was not under active investigation by anti-terror units or security agencies when the incident. They did not believe he had ever been on their radar, though inquiries were still ongoing.
