Muslim extremists hold Yorkshire prison officer hostage in Woolwich copycat attack

Three inmates held the warden hostage before stabbing him during a four-hour stand-off with guards on Sunday afternoon.

Reports said the attack at Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire was inspired by last week’s murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.

This morning it emerged that the victim was a former soldier. A leaked email, said to have been sent to all staff in the prison service, said the officer had been was chosen by the three Muslim inmates because of his links to the Armed Forces.

The email reads: “Three Muslim prisoners took an officer hostage in an office. Their demands indicated they supported radical Islamist extremism. “The officer taken was an ex-serviceman and, throughout the incident, threats were made to kill him.”

The incident is now being investigated by counter-terrorism officers.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “An incident involving three prisoners took place at HMP Full Sutton on 26 May from 4.25pm and was successfully resolved at 8.40pm after staff intervened. A police investigation is ongoing.”

Newspaper reports initially claimed the attack was masterminded by the Muslim fanatic Parviz Khan, who is serving life a sentence for plotting to behead a British soldier, but a source said he was not being held at Full Sutton. Khan, from Birmingham, was jailed in 2008.