A convicted double murderer who took a prison officer hostage has won a legal battle resulting in a taxpayer-funded payout totalling nearly a quarter of a million pounds.
Crimes and Incarceration
Fuad Awale, now 36, is serving a life sentence for the execution-style murders of two teenagers in Milton Keynes in 2013. He was aged 25 when he shot 19-year-old Mohammed Abdi Farah and 18-year-old Amin Ahmed Ismail in the head during a dispute over drugs. The court handed him a life term with a minimum of 38 years.
Later that same year, while already in custody, Awale took a prison officer hostage, threatening to kill him. He pointed a sharp implement at the officer's throat, pinned him to a chair, and stated: "Stop struggling, I've killed two people - I'll kill you." This act led to a further six-year prison sentence.
The Human Rights Challenge
Awale was subsequently assessed as holding extremist beliefs and was moved to a segregation unit for dangerous inmates at HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire. From 2021 onwards, he was held in conditions where he had no association with other prisoners, sometimes spending as little as one hour per day outside his cell. His legal team argued that the decisions to keep him segregated were "opaque" and that prison managers failed to conduct the regular, legally required reviews of his conditions.
Awale claimed the prolonged isolation caused him "severe depression." His lawyers took the case to the High Court, which ruled that the treatment breached his right to respect for private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Taxpayer-Funded Payout and Political Backlash
The court awarded Awale £7,500 in personal compensation and ordered the Ministry of Justice to pay his legal costs, amounting to £234,000, bringing the total cost to the public purse to £241,500.
The details were revealed in a letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, David Lammy, to Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick. Mr Lammy stated the compensation sum was a "modest proportion" of the settlement, which was contested by the MoJ as per standard practice for prisoners convicted of terrorist offences.
Robert Jenrick responded with strong criticism, telling the Daily Telegraph: "It's a sick joke that taxpayers are handing this man £7,500 in compensation and footing a legal bill of over £230,000. This is a double murderer and extremist who took a prison officer hostage." He accused the ECHR of prioritising the rights of terrorists and called for emergency legislation to exclude such offenders from its protections.
In his letter, Mr Lammy indicated that "significant policy and operational changes are under active consideration" to ensure the legal framework for separation in prisons remains robust.
The case also revealed that Awale had previously requested to associate with one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, a request denied on terrorism grounds.
