Murder of a policeman
Stephen Oake, the Special Branch officer who was murdered yesterday in Manchester during the arrest of three terrorist suspects, was a very brave man. He deserves the tributes paid to him today for an act of selfless courage. This appalling killing of an unarmed policeman reminds us all of the risks which police undertake on our behalf, and especially in the attempt to combat suspected terrorist groups.
The murder will, of course, raise serious questions about police procedure in detaining suspects in such cases - specifically, it may well lead to the provision of more armed police by way of support in these operations and consequently to an increase in the number of police bearing weapons overall. But this killing will also provoke hard questions about the nature and extent of the danger within the heart of our society that is posed by the existence of extremist Islamicist groups who may be linked with terrorist organisations.
That danger seems now more widespread than we had imagined. We do not yet know whether the suspects in this case were involved in ricin production, but the possibility that there are small groups who may be involved in bio-terrorism throughout the country is a real one.
The Manchester suspects, like the ricin suspects arrested in Wood Green, and those arrested in Bournemouth, are of North African origin. Some are suspected illegal immigrants. Without prejudice to this country's honourable record of providing asylum for those fleeing persecution, this case must raise renewed questions about the ways in which people claiming asylum can be supervised while their claims are considered.
It must also give renewed urgency to the way in which we deal with the larger question of illegal immigration, on a European, as well as a domestic level. But for now, we mourn a brave police officer who died in the attempt to protect the community. Our sympathies go to his family.
