Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi has refused to appear in court after being charged with attempting to murder prison officers at a maximum security jail.
The 28-year-old did not appear on a scheduled videolink at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, forcing an adjournment of the case.
He is accused of three counts of attempted murder after four prison officers were injured at HMP Frankland in County Durham on April 12.
Abedi also faces one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of unauthorised possession of a knife or offensive weapon.
Three prison officers were taken to hospital with serious injuries after they were allegedly attacked with hot oil and makeshift weapons in an ambush.
Abedi is next due to appear at the same court on September 25.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring told the court he would ensure the defendant attends the next hearing, adding: “I will order that he is physically produced, but if that is not possible, it will be a prison videolink.”
At the time of the incident, the Prison Officers Association said the staff sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in an “unprovoked” and “vicious” attack.
Abedi was convicted of assisting with the Manchester terror plot, in which his brother, suicide bomber Salman Abedi, killed 22 people by detonating a homemade rucksack-bomb in a crowd of concert-goers.
He was jailed for life with a record-breaking 55-year minimum term in August 2020.
