Children from 12 families protected by court due to radicalisation fears

Judges have reportedly considered cases involving 12 families in which children had one or more relatives that police had reason to believe were planning to travel to areas controlled by Islamic State.

Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior terrorism officer, stated that Judges in the cases either decided to make children wards of the court or to place them in temporary foster care.

Out of the 32 children that were considered, who lived in various areas of London, 22 were made wards of court while 10 were taken into care following interim care orders.

The number of children expected to be involved with similar cases is predicted to increase in the immediate future.

Highlighting the reasons that could cause police and court involvement, Mr Rowley said: “It could be about concerns that one of the older children is showing signs of radicalisation or it could be because of parents planning to travel and relocate the family to Raqqa [in Syria] or somewhere like that.

“The last thing we want is children going to a warzone with a terrorist ideology around them.”

Mr Rowley stated that counter-terrorism officers are currently arresting more than one suspect every day and that 11 per cent of investigations are connected to radicalisation.

Powers for temporarily confiscating the passports of potential terrorists were introduced earlier this year, and the number of cases where this power has been used has already hit double figures.

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