SNP accused of 'hissy fits' over bombers' trial

Published on Saturday 11 July 2009 20:00

THE former head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police has accused the SNP of "having hissy fits" and "despicable" behaviour in the wake of the attempted suicide bombing of Glasgow Airport.

While Strathclyde Police co-operated "brilliantly" with the Metropolitan Police in the investigation into the terrorist cell led by doctors who also attempted to bomb a London nightclub, Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Minister, fought a turf war over control of the suspects and engaged in "some amazing playground antics".

Andy Hayman, the former Assistant Commissioner of Special Operations at the Metropolitan Police, has made the accusations in his book, The Terrorist Hunters, which was due to be published last week but was withdrawn by the Attorney General over "legal concerns".

However a copy has been obtained by Scotland on Sunday, and in it Hayman says a "disproportionate amount of time" had to be spent convincing Alex Salmond and Elish Angiolini, the Lord Advocate, that the case should be handled and the suspects tried in London.

Hayman, who was in overall charge of Counter-Terrorism Command and Special Branch at the time of the attack on Glasgow Airport on 30 June 2007, writes: "At times I think some politicians can't help themselves. The lure of getting in the spotlight or having hissy fits over who is the most important simply gets in the way. And frankly, it's despicable."

The controversy centres around the arrest of Dr Bilal Abdullah, an Iraqi doctor based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, and Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian engineer, after they attempted to launch a suicide bombing attack on Glasgow Airport. Both had earlier attempted to bomb a nightclub in London, before fleeing back to their base in a rented house in Houston, Renfrewshire.

As the pair were arrested in Glasgow, they were eligible to be tried in Scotland under Scots law.

Hayman writes: "I was confident the chief constable of the Strathclyde Police, Sir Willie Rae, would have no qualms whatsoever in handing me jurisdiction over the terrorist investigation but I was less confident that the Scottish Parliament would allow it … Over the next week a disproportionate amount of effort was directed towards convincing the Scottish First Minister and his Attorney General that it was right to hand the case to London."

The turf war was fought in meetings of Cobra, the government's crisis meeting, which stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, a reference to the location in Downing Street.

The Scots were speaking over a secure communication link in the Scottish Government's emergency room, located in the basement of St Andrew's House. The first Cobra meeting attended by Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill and Elish Angiolini took place at 7.30 pm on Sunday, 1 July.

Hayman writes: "The Scots were determined they were equipped not only to deal with the investigation but also to try any suspects in their courts. No one was prepared to give way…

"The police took a different view from the politicians… Both the Met and Strathclyde Police knew it was sensible to give the lead to London where we could make connections with other cells and cases and draw on our considerable experience on hunting terrorists. It took some days, but eventually, logic prevailed and the case came to us.

Abdullah was later transferred to Paddington Green Police Station in London after Angiolini finally gave her consent to a prosecution in England under English law.

Labour leader Iain Gray said: "It is shameful that the First Minister of Scotland should behave in such a disgraceful manner trying to exploit an incident on the scale of the Glasgow Airport attack for his own personal gain.

"It begs the question: is Alex Salmond fit for office?"

But John Neilson, the assistant chief constable of Strathclyde Police and the officer who was in charge of the operational response to the attacks, said: "I don't know of any political interference that impacted on the investigation."

A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: "This bears absolutely no resemblance to events in Scotland that weekend.

"The Lord Advocate and her team worked tirelessly with the support of the Scottish ministers over the course of the weekend of the 29th and 30th June 2007 to ensure that the complex legal issue of jurisdiction was considered quickly but authoritatively. On 2 July 2007 (two days after the Glasgow bombing] the Lord Advocate instructed that both suspects be transferred to police custody in London and that jurisdiction for the investigation be passed to the English authorities.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "These claims are completely untrue and have no foundation whatsoever. Neither the First Minister nor the Justice Secretary had any contact or dealings with this individual, and were not involved in any of the judicial proceedings.

"Decisions on prosecution and liaison with prosecuting authorities in the rest of the UK are matters for the Lord Advocate. Scottish Ministers do not have any direct involvement in such decisions – and had no direct involvement in this case, as confirmed by both the Crown Office and Strathclyde Police.

"The Scottish Government is fully committed to the fight against terrorism."