Terror detention limit 'inadequate'

The 28-day limit for holding terror suspects without charge may need to be extended, an MPs committee has said.

However, the report by the Home Affairs Select Committee warned that extra safeguards would need to be put in place before the limit could be increased.

The report condemned the government's attempt to increase the maximum limit to 90 days, which was rejected in November in Tony Blair's first Commons defeat since he became Prime Minister.

However, the 90-day limit had been requested by police and the report criticised the police for not properly developing their case for the higher limit.

The Prime Minister and then Home Secretary Charles Clarke were also criticised for failing to question the police's recommendation.

The report suggested that there had been no evidence that a longer detention period was justified. However, the report said: "The growing number of cases and the increase in suspects monitored by the police and security services make it entirely possible, and perhaps increasingly likely, that there will be cases that do provide that justification.

"We believe, therefore, that the 28-day limit may well prove inadequate in the future."

The report recommended that an independent committee should be established to keep the detention limit under review and that suspects should be regularly assessed in order to see if further detention was necessary or whether they could be released under supervision, such as tagging or control orders.

However, committee member Labour MP David Winnick, who tabled the original 28-day limit, disagreed with the report's findings, telling the BBC that the police had not produced evidence that holding suspects for more than 28 days was necessary.

(KMcA)