An al-Qaeda terrorist who stabbed a police officer to death and planned a major poison attack on British streets could soon be free.
Kamel Bourgass, who has close links to hate preacher Anjem Choudary, is serving a minimum 22-year sentence after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a botched police raid in 2003.
And in 2005, the failed Algerian asylum seeker was jailed for 17 years for planning to spread poison and ricin across the UK.
He was a senior al-Qaeda official and had discussed different ways of dispersing the poison, including spreading it on car door handles in north London.
Although he is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous offenders in the country, he was referred to the Parole Board.
Choudary was convicted last week of terrorism-related offences and now faces life in prison. He was found guilty of continuing to lead the banned al-Muhajiroun organisation, which is linked to some of the country’s most dangerous terrorists.
There is no evidence that they had direct contact, but Bourgass had attended meetings of the group.
A spokesman for the Parole Board said: “Bourgass is currently under arrest and is at the initial assessment stage.”
This means that his case will be assessed by parole experts.
They could then release him immediately, order a hearing or decide that he remains in prison. Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and an expert on terrorism, described the news that Bourgass was likely to be released by the Parole Board as a “scandal”.
He said: “It’s deeply disturbing. This is clearly one of the most dangerous terrorists in this country.”
“And with Choudary about to be put in prison, it shows the challenges that law enforcement faces, with a cultist about to be released – a cultist capable of truly evil acts. The system never favours the victims or those who endure these atrocities.”
And last night a source said: “It’s a worrying situation. The fact that he’s before the Parole Board means there’s a real chance he’ll be released.
“His links to an organisation led by Choudary show how dangerous this man is.
“And it also shows that despite Choudary’s conviction, his tentacles of hate and radicalisation continue to spread far and wide.” DC Oake, 40, of Greater Manchester Police, was the first police officer to be killed by al-Qaeda. He died protecting his colleagues from the knife-wielding terrorist.
Counter-terrorism officers discovered a suspected chemical weapons laboratory during a raid on a flat in Wood Green in January 2003.
They discovered castor beans – the raw material for ricin – as well as the equipment needed to produce it and recipes for ricin, cyanide, botulinum and other poisons, as well as instructions for making explosives.
No ricin was found in the apartment or at any other address of the defendants.
After the raid, police launched a nationwide search for Bourgass, who had fled from London to Manchester, where he was captured on January 14, 2003.
It was there, during a desperate attempt to escape from a flat in the Crumpsall area of north Manchester, that he stabbed DC Oake to death with a kitchen knife and injured four other officers.
