Hashem Abedi, the 28-year-old convicted plotter in the Manchester Arena bombing, has reportedly refused to appear in court after facing charges of attempting to murder prison officers. His scheduled video-link appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on a recent Thursday, specifically September 18, was adjourned due to his non-attendance, with the case now postponed until September 25.

Abedi is accused of three counts of attempted murder following an alleged incident on April 12, during which four prison officers were injured at the maximum-security HMP Frankland in County Durham. In addition to these serious charges, he also faces one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of unauthorised possession of a knife or offensive weapon within the prison. It is alleged that three officers required hospital treatment for serious injuries, with two undergoing surgery and another sustaining a broken finger, after being attacked with hot oil and makeshift weapons.

According to reports, the attack unfolded when Abedi emerged from a kitchen on the separation unit at HMP Frankland. He allegedly poured a pan of hot oil over one officer before stabbing him in the neck with a makeshift knife, reportedly fashioned from a metal cooking tray. Three other officers who intervened to assist were also reportedly assaulted during the ambush.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring, addressing Abedi's failure to appear, stated that he would ensure the defendant's presence at the subsequent hearing. He indicated that if a video-link is not feasible, Abedi would be physically produced in court. Abedi has since been transferred to Belmarsh jail.

This is not Abedi's first instance of violent conduct within the prison system. He is currently serving a separate three-year and ten-month sentence for attacking a manager of a high-security unit at Belmarsh jail in May 2020, which occurred just two months after his conviction for his involvement in the Manchester bombing.

Hashem Abedi was found guilty of assisting his brother, Salman Abedi, in the devastating Manchester Arena terror plot of May 2017. That heinous attack resulted in the deaths of 22 concert-goers. For his role in this crime, Abedi was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2020, with a record-setting minimum term of 55 years, making it the longest determinate sentence ever imposed by a UK judge. He was extradited to Britain in 2019 and convicted at the Old Bailey on March 17, 2020.