The psychologist who developed the Government’s main deradicalisation programme today said it can never be certain that terrorists have been “cured”.
Christopher Dean set up the Healthy Identity Intervention (HII) rehabilitation scheme for prisoners convicted of offences linked to extremism.
It was one of the courses attended by Usman Khan, who stabbed two people to death near London Bridge on 29 November.
Khan was a convicted terrorist who had been a member of an al Qaeda-inspired group that plotted to blow up the London Stock Exchange.
London Bridge terror attack | 29 November 2019
London Bridge terror attack | 29 November 2019
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Mr Dean told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that some offenders who take part in his scheme regress afterwards for complex reasons such as who they mix with.
“They may come into contact with individuals or they may go through a spell in life where they may begin to re-engage with groups or causes or ideologies associated with their offending behaviour,” he said.
“I think we have to be very careful about ever saying that somebody no longer presents a risk of committing an offence. I don’t think you can ever be sure. We have to be very careful about saying someone has totally changed or has been cured.”
Khan killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, during a knife rampage at a prisoner rehabilitation event in Fishmongers’ Hall before being shot dead by police. The 28-year-old had been released from prison on licence in December 2018 when he was reportedly responding to rehabilitation.
Mr Dean said: “The two main aims of healthy identity intervention are primarily to try and make individuals less willing or prepared to commit offences on behalf of a violent extremist group cause or ideology.
“If we can reduce someone’s relationship or identification with a particular group, cause or ideology, that in itself may have an impact on whether they’re willing to offend or not.”
As part of the HII scheme, offenders attend sessions with a psychologist who encourages them to talk about their motivations, beliefs, identity and relationships.
Mr Dean said HII was only one part of attempts to manage such offenders, adding: “I think we need to be careful about suggesting that interventions in themselves are the solution.”
There has been no evaluation of the scheme’s long-term success.
A government spokesman said the new counter-terror Bill will keep terrorists in prison for longer and strengthen licence conditions if they are released.
He added: “We also use a range of deradicalisation programmes for terrorists before and after they are released from custody and use a robust multi-agency approach to monitor extremists released into the community.”
