Manchester, United Kingdom. Greater Manchester Police apologised for failing to review seized mobile phone data before a deadly attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, describing the lapse as a missed opportunity.
The apology came as Mohammad Asim Bashir was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison for assisting attacker Jihad Al-Shamie with reconnaissance at a UK defence site.
Sentence for reconnaissance associate
Bashir, 31, admitted last month that he drove Al-Shamie to the UK Defence Academy in Oxfordshire in August 2025 to carry out hostile reconnaissance.
At Manchester Crown Court, Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb described Bashir as a “committed jihadist” who had enthusiastically planned a terrorist attack with Al-Shamie. Messages between the pair discussed violence and showed antisemitic views.
Synagogue attack
Six weeks after the Oxfordshire trip, Al-Shamie drove a car into pedestrians and attacked people with a knife at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
One Jewish worshipper died from stab wounds, while another was accidentally shot dead by police. Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, told police he was acting for Islamic State before officers shot him dead.
Police review failure
Prosecutors said Al-Shamie had been arrested twice before the attack: in February 2025 for allegedly breaching a non-molestation order and again in September over an alleged rape.
His mobile devices were seized, but their contents were not examined until after the attack, the court heard.
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said he was “deeply sorry” that the force had not reviewed data containing significant evidence of Al-Shamie’s mindset.
“It is clear that our not having reviewed the data available to us prior to the attack constitutes a missed opportunity,” Watson said.
