🔗 Share this article

The individual who carried out the deadly attack at a Jewish house of worship in Manchester was free on bail from authorities in connection with an alleged rape at the time, according to reports.

Jihad al-Shamie, aged 35, was under investigation for the reported sexual assault that is said to have happened in recent months.

The attacker, of Syrian origin, is also thought to have a record of criminal offenses, though he was not being monitored from anti-terror authorities.

Shamie was fatally shot by responding police following the murder of a Jewish man and caused serious harm to several other people during the attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in north Manchester on Thursday.

Two men, 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz, lost their lives during the incident. One of them succumbed to a round discharged by officers aimed at the attacker.

Anti-terror units and intelligence agencies are currently investigating the assailant's history, as it is believed that he chose Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, to attack those praying.

Although Shamie was not known to counter-terrorism agencies or referred to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent, he had faced prosecution for criminal offenses.

The exact timing the reported rape occurred, but Shamie was on bail while under investigation by Greater Manchester police.

An insider stated that he had additional criminal convictions, albeit for less serious crimes with no connection to terrorism.

“No one suspected him of terrorism but he definitely had a history of crime, though nothing to suggest he was going to do such an extreme act,” an informant remarked.

Police are looking into whether the attacker sent a death threat to a former Conservative MP in 2012.

The email to the former MP came from someone calling themselves “Jihad Alshamie” and stated, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”

Howell, who left his position as Henley's representative in 2024, expressed uncertainty if it was the same person and felt that police had not taken the threat against his life seriously enough at the time.

Media coverage from that year suggested that he was likely targeted due to his pro-Israel stance.

“The last thing I want to appear as is a drama queen, but you have to take seriously a threat when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead,’” the former MP said in 2012, according to coverage by the Jerusalem Post.

“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is unstable enough, with a distorted view of life, to make an attempt to act on it.” He noted that local police had given him “extremely good security advice.”

Police have not confirmed whether the “Jihad Alshamie” who contacted the former MP is the same individual who committed the synagogue attack, but they are exploring a possible link.

Shabana Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood, stated that the attacker was not under ongoing scrutiny by anti-terror units or security agencies at the time of the attack. They had no reason to think he had previously been on their watchlist, though investigations were still ongoing.