Longer sentences for terror offences would not have stopped Streatham attacker Sudesh Amman

Analysis: Prisons have become a recruiting ground for Islamist extremists. There is no reason to think Amman would not have carried out the stabbings after another 18 months in Belmarsh, writes Kim Sengupta

Forensic officers work outside a shop on Streatham High Road (AFP)

The attack carried out by Sudesh Amman has been followed by Boris Johnson declaring the system of early releases for terrorist offences needs to end and further calls for a minimum term of 14 years for some acts of terror.

It is unlikely, however, that either of these measures would have prevented the stabbings in south London. The projected tariff of 14 years is only meant for the most serious offences and thus would not have applied to Amman.

There is also no reason to believe that Amman would not have carried out the stabbing after another 18 months in jail: especially as there is evidence that he wanted to die as a “shuhada”, martyr, and go to “Jannah”, paradise. He achieved that aim, as had a number of other jihadis recently, by wearing a fake suicide vest.