Three held after UK policeman stabbed to death

Three men were being questioned in the UK today after a police officer was stabbed to death and four others injured during a raid on terrorist suspects linked to last week’s discovery of the deadly poison ricin.

Forty-year-old Special Branch detective constable Stephen Oake died as three suspects of North African origin, aged 23, 27 and 29, were arrested yesterday afternoon at a flat in Crumpsall, north Manchester.

Officers were today continuing a forensic search of the flat. Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Alan Green said had so far found nothing to suggest ricin or anything similar was on the premises.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the death and injuries “underline the dangers that our police and security forces face in these times”.

Mr Oake, a father-of-three from Poynton in Cheshire, died at North Manchester General Hospital after receiving emergency treatment at the scene. He leaves a wife of 20 years, Lesley, a 15-year-old son and two daughters, aged 12 and 14.

He and the other officers were attacked after one of the suspects, aged 27, broke free – more than an hour after police first swooped on the address.

Three of the officers attacked, including the dead man, were from Special Branch and were not wearing protective clothing, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd said.

Mr Todd said the Special Branch officers had gone into the flat to collect intelligence after the arrests had been made at 4.22pm and would not have expected to be confronted by a man with a knife.

He added: “There were no armed officers involved in the operation whatsoever.”

The attacker is believed to have used a large kitchen knife.

Mr Todd added: “It’s been a rather terrifying day for all of us and a rather traumatic day with one of our officers losing his life.”

Officers involved in the raid were from the force’s tactical aid unit, whose officers were wearing body armour, and supported by Special Branch and the Immigration Service.

Mr Todd said: “During the course of the search one of the suspects managed to get free, get a knife and stab a number of our officers. One, a 40-year-old Special Branch officer, was sadly killed.”

He said “it was an intelligence-led operation” in which the officers were seeking a specific individual.

Four officers remained in North Manchester General Hospital today but none were thought to have life-threatening injuries.

A 38-year-old detective inspector from Special Branch received superficial stab wounds to the chest and a 41-year-old Special Branch detective sergeant suffered a serious stab wound to the arm.

Both have undergone surgery and their conditions were today described by Greater Manchester Police as “comfortable”.

A 34-year-old Pc from the tactical aid unit received a broken ankle and a 42-year-old sergeant from the same unit suffered a leg injury.

Hospital officials confirmed a total of 12 people were in the hospital following the incident, nine of whom were being kept under observation “as a precautionary measure”.

The hospital’s director of planning of performance, Alan Moran, said four police officers, three paramedics and one other ambulance crew member were being kept under observation overnight and would, all being well, be discharged later today.

Consultant in A&E, Jimmy Stuart, added: “The prospect of chemical contamination is almost negligible.

“We have taken expert advice from Porton Down and have felt it prudent and sensible to take precautions against the possibility – no more than that.”

Two of the three men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and the third was detained under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) – the new legislation brought in after September 11 – a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

Of the two arrested under the 2000 Act, one was being transferred to a central London police station to be interviewed by the Met’s Anti-Terrorist Branch officers.

The second man, aged 27, remained in custody at a Manchester police station in connection with the death of the police officer, the Met spokesman said.

Tributes to the dead officer flooded in from the highest level.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair called the death “an appalling tragedy and wicked in the extreme”.