Chilling moment Manchester terrorist’s brother SMILES before he attacks guard after teaming up with Parsons Green bomber
THIS is the chilling moment the brother of the Manchester bomber smiled before attacking a prison officer at Belmarsh.
Hashem Abedi, Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and Muhammed Saeed, 23, ambushed Paul Edwards, 57, at the high security jail.
Abedi, who conspired with brother Salman Abedi, 22, to kill 22 people in the Manchester Arena bomb blast, was seen smiling on CCTV before the attack.
The 24-year-old - suspected of being the "leader" of a group of Islamist terrorist inmates inside Belmarsh's "prison within a prison" - was today convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Abedi was also found guilty of assault by beating of an emergency worker.
He was jailed for three years and 10 months while Hassan and Saeed were caged for three years.
Woolwich Crown Court was told Abedi, Hassan and Saeed stormed Mr Edwards' office on May 11 last year.
The custodian manager was hit with a chair and repeatedly punched and kicked during the terrifying attack.
He said: "I feared for my life, and I genuinely thought if I hadn't fought back I would've ended up with at least extreme injuries or dead."
Mr Edwards, who worked at the prison for 25 years, described the trio as a "pack of animals" after they repeatedly rained blows on him.
He was later seen covered in blood after suffering a laceration to his head, bruising to his back, rib cage and face and lasting damage to his hearing.
Abedi is serving 24 life sentences with a minimum term of 55 years after he was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life over the Manchester Arena attack.
Hassan was caged for at least 34 years for planting a device that injured 51 train passengers in 2017.
While Saeed was jailed for five years last May after pleading guilty to five counts of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.
Jurors, who were not told about their convictions, were forced to listen to Abedi defend himself during the assault trial.
He claimed he and his two accomplices don't get "treated like other prisoners" and branded Mr Edwards a "filthy pig".
All three prisoners were convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH).
Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “These three offenders launched a cowardly and vicious attack on a prison officer, in what they saw as retribution for having some of their privileges taken away.
“One witness described it as a ‘frenzied’ attack, and I have no doubt they set out to seriously injure their victim. I would like to praise the prison staff who intervened very quickly, and were able to stop the attack and gain control of the situation.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“We worked closely with the prison service to thoroughly investigate this incident, and ensured these men were put before the courts.”