Preventing terror attacks is “more difficult than it’s ever been”, one of Britain’s most senior counter-terror police officers has warned in an exclusive interview with The Independent.
Dean Haydon, the senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said changes to the way attacks are planned, targeted and carried out had made them harder to spot, while the profile of terrorists has “completely changed”.
“The main threat we currently see is from people within this country that are being self-radicalised,” he added.
“The timelines have been shortened. You can go out and buy a kitchen knife in a supermarket and decide ‘this afternoon I’m going to commit an attack at x location’, in the name of whatever ideology, and it’s a terrorist attack.
“Would we see that coming? That’s really difficult to detect. Our collective challenge is far more difficult than it has ever been.”
Recommended David Amess: Ali Harbi Ali pleads not guilty to murdering MP and preparing acts of terrorism Liverpool hospital bomb: Emad al-Swealmeen had been planning attack since April, police confirm Twice as many terror suspects are white as are Asian, figures show – and record number are children
Almost every terror attack launched in Britain since 2017 has been carried out by a lone attacker, including the recent Liverpool bombing.
The security services say 32 plots have been foiled in the same period – 18 jihadist, 12 far-right and two from other ideologies.
The extreme right-wing threat has grown significantly in recent years, and now makes up around 13 per cent of cases currently being handled by counter-terror police, while the bulk remain jihadist.
The majority of terror suspects arrested by police are now white and British, while the average age has been falling and record numbers of children are being detained.
“The profile of a terrorist has completely changed, and that comes back to how the threat has changed,” Mr Haydon said. “We are dealing with individuals who are self-radicalised, that are looking at extremist materials online.”
The officer said that in the Noughties, terrorists were mainly “stovepiped” into consuming online material by a single group they supported, whereas people now “mix and match” violent propaganda from a range of ideologies.
A resulting shift away from complex plots involving in-person networking to self-initiated attacks by people radicalised online “presents challenges” for police and the security services by reducing opportunities to detect them.
“You’ve got no command and control mostly, so you’ve got people in their head who have decided, after looking at material, that ‘I’m going to go and commit an attack’,” Mr Haydon said. “They’re not waiting for some kind of direction or approval from above.”
Mr Haydon said that some groups, including al-Qaeda and Isis, still aspire to commit a terrorist “spectacular”, but find it easier to incite supporters to act alone through online material.
“People can access literally anything online,” he warned. “Where previously you had to go to a training camp in a desert somewhere, now you just have to look online to make an IED.”
Isis’s jihadi propaganda has long exhorted the use of knives and cars in deadly attacks on people, rather than complex explosives that take time and knowledge to create. Its propaganda has contributed to a shift in the way Islamist attacks are carried out, after declaring that any “disbelievers” should be killed, in any place, without prior permission.
UK news in pictures Show all 50
1/50UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Year’s Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London
EPA
UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year
PA
UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland
PA
UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket
PA
UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queen’s Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London
PA
UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London
Getty
UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham
PA
UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip
PA
UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London
Reuters
UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester
PA
UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge.
Getty
UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year
PA
UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton
PA
UK news in pictures 19 December 2021 Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux
Getty Images
UK news in pictures 18 December 2021 Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent
PA
UK news in pictures 17 December 2021 Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts 'Boris' bubble' held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election
PA
UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire
PA
UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle
PA
UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool
PA
UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster
Getty Images
UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds
PA
UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds,
PA
UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judge’s decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
PA
UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service
PA
UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine
PA
UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow
PA
UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra
Getty
UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother
PA
UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square
Reuters
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Getty
UK news in pictures 1 December 2021 Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar
PA
UK news in pictures 30 November 2021 Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week
PA
UK news in pictures 29 November 2021 Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana
Getty
UK news in pictures 28 November 2021 Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow
Manchester City/Getty
UK news in pictures 27 November 2021 Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as “Storm Arwen” triggered a rare “red weather” warning
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England
AFP via Getty
UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London
Reuters
UK news in pictures 25 November 2021 A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border
PA
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures 24 November 2021 Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel.
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 23 November 2021 The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London
PA
UK news in pictures 22 November 2021 The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead
Tom Wren/SWNS
UK news in pictures 21 November 2021 London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a 'March with Midwives' in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services
PA
UK news in pictures 20 November 2021 Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 19 November 2021 A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a 'wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste'
PA
UK news in pictures 18 November 2021 The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke
PA
UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England
PA
UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh
PA
UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool
Reuters
That change has also reduced chances to spot plots, Mr Haydon said, by lowering the cost of acquiring what is needed, which means there are no “money trails” for police to follow.
“If you put all five of the 2017 attacks together – Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge, Finsbury Park mosque and Parsons Green – all of their planning, the weapons they brought, the vehicles they hired, the precursor chemicals, came to less than ￡5,000,” he added.
“People are looking at everyday items and stuff you can access legitimately online – you don’t need vast amounts of money to commit an attack now.”
Targets have increasingly moved away from high-profile landmarks, government and military locations, to seemingly random public places with little or no security.
As a result, police have launched “action counters terrorism” campaigns to inform the public of potential warning signs and encourage them to report any concerns.
“We do need parents, family members, we need the whole of the system to be flagging people that are a concern,” Mr Haydon said.
“The terrorism threat and the challenge that we all face trying to stop attacks has become ever more difficult.”
Recommended Manchester bombing victim’s mother made OBE for work to fight terrorism Review of Prevent counter-extremism programme misses deadline Dancers and bike stunt teams perform at scaled-down London New Year’s Day parade
He added that coronavirus lockdowns had created a “perfect storm” by leaving people more isolated and vulnerable to online radicalisation, as support from agencies and loved ones reduced.
Anyone with concerns is asked to visit the Act Early website or call the confidential Police Prevent Advice Line on 0800 011 3764.