UPDATE: |The full horror of the prison officer’s injuries inflicted by Manchester Arena bomb terrorist Hashem Abedi News

The attack took place in a separation centre at HMP Frankland in County Durham, which has less than 10 prisoners and is where those considered to be the most dangerous and extremist are held

The full horror of the injuries suffered by two prison officers after they were attacked by the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has been revealed. Hashem Abedi is serving 55 years after assisting his suicide bomber brother, Salman, plan the 2017 attack which killed 22 people.

Now an investigtion is being led by Counter Terrorism Police after he viciously assaulted three prison officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham. Hashem, 28, is though to have horded sachets of butter and melted them before throwing them over a female prison officer, who was scalded.

The injuries inflicted on two of her male colleagues could have been fatal to both. The full exent of what happened to them has been revealed by Mark Fairhurst, the National Chairman of the Prison Officers Association.

He told The Guardian that Abedi had produced two homemade knives, adding: “We think that he’s made knives out of a baking tray from that kitchen area.

“One [officer] had a severed artery, was stabbed in the neck, and one’s got severe stab wounds in the back, including a punctured lung,” Fairhurst said, adding that the officers also received third-degree burns.

The attack took place in a separation centre at HMP Frankland in County Durham, which has less than 10 prisoners and is where those considered to be the most dangerous and extremist are held.

Mr Fairhurst added: “I’m absolutely furious that terrorist prisoners, who pose such a significant risk to national security, are allowed the same freedoms and privileges as prisoners on normal location. We should not be allowing prisoners in separation centres to access cooking facilities, so they have the resources and implements that can inflict violence on staff.

“There’s only one way to reduce the risk and prevent this ever happening again, and to reduce the risk, you have to stop prisoners’ access to kitchens, because we’re worried about copycat incidents. They get prison food, they get three meals a day. Why do they need to cook?”

He said that more investment was needed from the Treasury in order to improve conditions for prison staff.

“This just highlights how violent our workplace is, that your life is on the line every single shift – every single time you go on duty you’re subject to threats, abuse and violence, every single day, and let’s be honest, we haven’t got the adequate protections in place,” he said.

“We deal with exactly the same incidents as police officers, exactly the same violence, the same hostilities, yet we don’t have the same protections. We don’t even have stab-proof vests.”

Hashem Abedi was previoulsy found guilty along with two other convicted terrorists, of attacking a prison officer at southeast London’s Belmarsh prison in 2020.

Today Mr Fairhust was visiting Frankland Prison to gather more information on the attack.

He said the union was requesting an urgent meeting with the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, “to discuss what happened and put our case forward to issue prison officers on the frontline stab-proof vests”.

He said that pending the review, access to prison kitchens “should be removed immediately, and it should never be allowed again”.

Fairhurst also said the promised review of the incident should be carried out independently.

“If they’re serious about improving conditions for staff and clamping down on violence then they will commission that independent review,” he said. “We don’t want it kept in-house, we want an independent expert on terror to look at what went wrong and make recommendations.”

The MoJ has not yet said who will carry out the review, or whether cooking facilities for prisoners will be suspended in the interim.

An MoJ spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the two prison officers still in hospital as they recover. There will be a full review into how this attack was able to happen, alongside the separate police inquiry. The government will do whatever it takes to keep our hardworking staff safe.”

A statement issued at the weekend by Counter Terrorism Policing North East read: “The investigation into a serious assault of three prison officers at HMP Frankland remains ongoing today. Counter Terrorism Policing North East are leading the investigation, with support from Durham Constabulary.

“Two victims remain in hospital with serious injuries and the third victim was discharged from hospital yesterday. Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation. We are keeping an open mind as we investigate to establish the facts.”