Terror suspect was on the run

A TERROR suspect whose arrest led to the death of a police detective was a failed asylum seeker on the run from the authorities, it emerged yesterday.

The raid, part of an investigation into the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in north London on January 5, ended in tragedy when another man who was in the flat launched a frenzied attack with a kitchen knife.

Special Branch Detective Constable Stephen Oake, 40, who was not wearing body armour, was fatally stabbed in the chest after going to the aid of other officers.

In the House of Commons, Home Secretary David Blunkett said the man police had been looking for, thought to be Algerian, had been in the

country “on and off for about four years”.

He had applied for and been refused asylum and his case had gone to appeal. The man had then absconded before being tracked to the flat in Manchester.

Mr Blunkett said he “wasn’t let go, wasn’t forgotten about, was tracked by the security services to the point where we were about to arrest and deal with him”.

The man police went looking for at the Manchester flat was held under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which was introduced after the September 11 atrocities.

A total of three suspects, all of north African origin and aged 23, 27 and 29, were arrested at the Manchester flat.

Following the tragedy, tributes to Dc Oake poured in, including from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said: “His family has lost a very fine man. The community has lost a very fine police officer.”

Mr Blair said he had met Mr Oake when the officer worked as part of his protection team and that parliament would want to express its “shock and outrage at this wicked murder”.

The officer had also worked protecting the Queen.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told the Commons the events were “a wake-up call to the nation”.

Police, meanwhile, praised Dc Oake’s heroism in putting his life on the line for his colleagues.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Mike Todd said: “The Special Branch officers, including Steve, very bravely went to assist their colleagues and that’s how he has been fatally stabbed.”

And Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said: “Stephen paid the ultimate sacrifice for his family and for the families of the police officers who have been injured.”

His father said he was praying for God to forgive his son’s killer.

Robin Oake, a former chief constable of the Isle of Man, added that his son died at a time when his sister Sue was seriously ill.

Mr Oake said: “This is a very hard blow to take, as you can imagine, but in the police service one has to expect the unexpected.

“I am praying hard for his wife Lesley and the children as well as my wife and the wider family but, even more than that, I am praying for the perpetrator of this killing and seeking God’s forgiveness for him; praying also that he may now seek God himself and find peace and forgiveness with him.”