Extremist's escape into mosque raises heat on Reid

The British Muslim has since been able to flee the country to Pakistan, where he is believed to be undergoing Jihadi training at a terror camp.

An international manhunt was under way to find the extremist, amid fears he could be a threat to Western targets.

It is yet another hammer blow to the battered reputation of Home Secretary John Reid, still reeling from the scandal over Britons convicted of offences abroad.

Allowing a terror suspect to simply waltz through border controls and flee is also an acute potential embarrassment to Britain's role in the war on terror.

If he is linked to any future offence abroad, the diplomatic fallout could be devastating.

Incredibly, the Briton - who had not even been forced to hand over his passport - is the third control order terror suspect to go on the run.

He vanished a week ago, days after the order was imposed by Mr Reid following security service warnings that he planned to travel abroad for Jihadi training.

The suspect, in his mid-20s, was meant to report regularly to police and had been due to present his passport on his first appearance.

However, he immediately went on the run, hiding from police in a Manchester mosque. A member of the mosque, unaware of his fugitive status, is understood to have then helped him leave the country.

Checks of flight records have since confirmed the man - whose identity is being kept secret by the Government - is in Pakistan. Sources believe he has made previous visits to the country, in particular the tribal areas in the north said to be the heartland of Al Qaeda and other Jihadi training camps.

Police did not discover he had been hiding in the mosque until after he fled the country. The hugely embarrassing revelation will raise important questions about how terror suspects who want to evade the authorities can abuse the sensitivity surrounding the Islamic community in Britain.

It also throws into huge doubt the effectiveness of the control order regime. Police blamed the Home Office for putting insufficiently strict controls on the individual.

A senior source said: "Sadly, the terms of this arrangement were such that it was easy for him to go on the run. He was given one of the least restrictive control orders available."

Insiders added it was farcical that the court had made an order for the man's passport to be taken, but he was then trusted to turn up at a local police station to hand it over.

The conditions of his order were simply to report daily to a police station, to surrender travel documents and to reside at a specified address.

MPs demanded the suspect be named, allowing him to be identified by the public if he returns to the UK. They also poured scorn on Mr Reid's efforts to end the chaos at the Home Office.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "Far from getting a grip since John Reid took over, the Home Office has been marked by murderers walking out of open prisons and suspected terrorists escaping from control orders.

"Unless there are special circumstances, such as if it could prejudice another trial, this individual should now be named. If there is sufficient suspicion that this man is involved in terrorist activities to restrain his activities, there is sufficient suspicion to name him in the interests of protecting the public."

The admission the danger man had gone on the run was made in a statement to MPs at the end of the night, prompting accusations Ministers were trying to 'bury bad news'.

The two others who have fled while supposedly subject to an order are an Iraqi with links to Al Qaeda, and a British Muslim questioned over ties to one of the July 7 bombers. They, too, have never been named by the Home Office.

Suspects who are placed under the orders are granted automatic anonymity, unless they choose to make their names known to the public.

Police Minister Tony McNulty said of the latest case: "An anonymity order is in place and, after consulting the police, the Government is currently not seeking to overturn it."

The shambles casts huge doubt over the ability of the orders to protect the public from attack.

Previously, they allowed suspects to be ordered to remain under virtual house arrest. But, following a crushing human rights defeat, the restrictions have been dramatically watered down.

The Home Office insisted the man who has fled to Pakistan does not pose "a direct threat to the public in the UK at this time."

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