Threat against UK 'smouldering', top counter terror officer warns

The UK is facing a "smouldering" terror threat level with children as young as 10 accessing extreme online material, one of the country's most senior counter-terrorism officers has warned.

Deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said there was a rapid increase in the number of terror suspects radicalised by "extreme violence" and a "conveyor belt of young people" being affected by extreme online content - some of whom could go on to commit "horrific acts".

Police and security services have stopped 43 late-stage terror plots since 2017, three of which were in the past year - with some of these being "goal line saves".

The official terrorism threat level in the UK is substantial, meaning an attempted attack is likely.

DAC Evans said of the three intended terrorist attacks officers had interrupted in the late-stage of planning in the last 12 months, two were Islamist plots and one was extreme right-wing.

Detectives had not expected the "volume and tempo" of activity seen, she explained.

Counter Terrorism Policing's biggest caseload was still Islamist extremism, DAC Evans added.

Meanwhile, the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria was a point of concern for counter-terrorism detectives, she said.

"History tells us that instability creates a space of extremism, violence and acts of terror."

Organisations like the Islamic State "capitalise on chaos," she warned.

She added that expressing support for the group that overthrew Assad's regime - Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - is still a criminal offence in this country, as it is a banned group.