Greater Manchester Police have issued an apology for not examining critical data on two mobile phones seized from Jihad Al-Shamie prior to his deadly attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester last October. The force’s chief constable, Sir Stephen Watson, described the failure as a “missed opportunity,” acknowledging that the phones contained substantial evidence of Al-Shamie’s extremist views and could have prompted further investigative action.

Al-Shamie, 35, an Islamic State supporter from Prestwich, carried out the attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. He drove his car into a security guard outside the synagogue before launching a knife assault on worshippers. Two men, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed; the former was stabbed, while the latter died from a stray police bullet during the shootout in which Al-Shamie was killed. His fake suicide belt added to the initial confusion during the response.

Months before the attack, Al-Shamie’s phones were seized on two occasions. The first was in February 2025 following an arrest for breaching a non-molestation order, and the second in September during a rape allegation investigation. At that time, Al-Shamie was not known to counterterrorism units or intelligence services. Despite the seizures, the phones were not analyzed until after the synagogue attack, when police uncovered exchanges revealing Al-Shamie’s extremist mindset and plans.

The phones contained extensive anti-Semitic and jihadist communications between Al-Shamie and his associate, Mohammad Bashir, 31, a delivery driver from Cheetham Hill. The pair were members of a WhatsApp group called “Aspiring to the Ranks of the Elite” and had plotted a terrorist attack on the UK Defence Academy at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, believing Israeli forces were present there. In August 2025, Bashir drove Al-Shamie on a 10-hour reconnaissance mission to the military site, a trip captured on CCTV. Bashir later pleaded guilty to preparing terrorist acts.

Following Bashir’s sentencing to a minimum of 17 years in prison, Sir Stephen Watson expressed regret for the distress caused by the inspection delay. He confirmed that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is reviewing the handling of Al-Shamie’s arrests and the subsequent investigation. The watchdog has also reportedly opened a misconduct inquiry into at least one officer involved in the earlier handling of allegations against Al-Shamie.

Community representatives, including Raphi Bloom of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, welcomed the police’s apology while emphasizing trust in ongoing investigations. The families of the victims have called for the upcoming inquest into the attack to examine the information held by the police before the tragedy.

Authorities emphasized that the failure to analyze the phones before the synagogue attack represents a serious oversight in police procedure. The IOPC’s inquiry and the inquest scheduled for the spring aim to determine the full extent and implications of this missed intelligence opportunity.