The Terrorist Hunters
{{Short description|2009 non-fiction book by Andy Hayman and Margaret Gilmore}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The Terrorist Hunters
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| image = The Terrorist hunters.jpeg
| caption = The front cover of The Terrorist Hunters
| author = Andy Hayman
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| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
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| genre = Autobiography
| publisher = Bantam Press
| pub_date = July 2009
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| pages = 334
| isbn = 978-0-593-06586-0
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The Terrorist Hunters (published 2009) is a controversial non-fiction book by former senior police officer Andy Hayman, co-written by Margaret Gilmore, about Hayman's role as head of the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Operations Division. The Attorney General for England and Wales, Baroness Scotland QC, sought, and initially won, a High Court injunction against the publication of the book.{{cite news|url=http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Top-counterterrorist-officer39s-book-barred.5425905.jp|title=Top counter-terrorist officer's book barred|last=Greenwood|first=Chris |date=3 July 2009 |work=The Scotsman|publisher=Johnston Press|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=Edinburgh}} The book was reported to have sold 2,500 pre-order copies before the injunction was issued.{{cite web|url=http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room/room/view_article.asp?name=../articles/06july09(1)hamansterristbook.htm|title=Injunction Temporarily Bans Sales of The Terrorist Hunters|last=Jariwalla|first=Waheedan |date=4 July 2009|publisher=Lawdit Commercial Solicitors|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=London}}
Narrative
The primary focus of The Terrorist Hunters is on the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the investigation it sparked as well as the role of the UK's security services, particularly the Met and MI5 in combating terrorism in the years after the attacks, though it also covers the investigation into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.{{cite news|url=http://www.mnweekly.ru/news/20090706/55381820-print.html|title=Litvinenko book banned|date=July 6, 2009|work=Moscow News|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=Moscow}}
The Terrorist Hunters is highly critical of the government's emergency committee, known as COBR (aka COBRA), of which Hayman was often a member. Hayman describes COBRA in the book and in interviews with The Times as "cumbersome, bureaucratic and overly political."{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6552590.ece?print=yes&randnum=1151003209000|title=Cobra emergency committee 'slows everything down'|last=O'Neil|first=Sean |date=June 22, 2009|work=The Times|publisher=News International|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Hayman also discusses Sir Ian Blair, former Met Commissioner, whom he described as a friend but of whom he later became highly critical in relation to a statement by the commissioner regarding the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian national who was mistakenly shot dead by CO19 officers on the London underground after being misidentified as a suicide bomber the day after the failed 21 July 2005 London bombings. He also questions whether his role and the role of other intelligence and emergency service officials attending the meetings were taken seriously enough{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6549944.ece?print=yes&randnum=1151003209000|title=Cobra, the UK emergency committee that makes chaos out of a crisis|last=Hayman|first=Andy|date=June 22, 2009|work=The Times|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} and recalls an exchange with Patricia Hewitt, then Secretary of State for Health during a COBRA meeting in the immediate aftermath of the 7 July bombings, about the number of scenes at which the bombers had struck.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6539560.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602204231/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6539560.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 2, 2010|title=No warning, no links, no leads: 7/7 bombings were a bolt out of nowhere|last=Hayman|first=Andy|date=June 20, 2009 |work=The Times|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=London}}
The Terrorist Hunters goes on to deal with events in 2007, when an attack was launched on Glasgow International Airport on the same day as two attempted car bombings in London. Hayman praises Strathclyde Police for their cooperation in the subsequent investigations, though is critical of Alex Salmond, then Scottish First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, accusing Salmond of waging a "turf war" over control of the Glasgow suspects in "some amazing playground antics",{{cite news|url=http://news.scotsman.com/politics/SNP-accused-of-39hissy-fits39.5451501.jp|title=SNP accused of 'hissy fits' over bombers' trial|last=McGinty|first=Stephen |date=12 July 2009|work=The Scotsman|publisher=The Scotsman Publications Ltd|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=Edinburgh}} a claim which was strongly denied by Salmond and the SNP.{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/bombing-hissy-fits-by-salmond-dismissed-as-nonsense-1.850396|title=Bombing 'hissy fits' by Salmond dismissed as nonsense|last=SETTLE|first=MICHAEL |date=13 Jul 2009|work=The Herald (Glasgow)|publisher=Herald & Times Group|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=Glasgow}}
Within the book, Hayman also calls for an official public inquiry into the events of 7 July 2005.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8111037.stm|title=Ex-terror chief seeks 7/7 inquiry|date=20 June 2009|work=BBC News|publisher=The British Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=London}}
Injunction
On 1 July 2009, the English High Court issued a temporary injunction against the sale of The Terrorist Hunters after a hearing requested by Baroness Scotland QC, the Attorney General. The reason given for the injunction was "legal reasons relating to ongoing criminal proceedings",{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0703/1224249965456.html|title=Book by UK counter-terrorism officer blocked|date=July 3, 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|publisher=Irish Times Trust|accessdate=3 January 2010|location=Dublin}} the Crown Prosecution Service fearing a passage in the book might influence jury members of a pending trial.[http://www.andyhayman.com/book.html The Terrorist Hunters] Retrieved 12 March 2010 When the injunction ran out the book returned to sale unedited and a paperback edition was published in October 2009.[http://p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/blog/2010/01/30/tesco-still-censoring-the-terrorist-hunters-by-andy-hayman.html Tesco still censoring The Terrorist Hunters by Andy Hayman] 30 January 2010 Retrieved 12 March 2010
Publication
Prior to its release, copies of The Terrorist Hunters were provided to the Cabinet Office, MI5, MI6 and the Crown Prosecution Service for approval, prompting Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson to suggest the Metropolitan Police Authority, the force's governing body, review whether senior officers should be allowed to publish such books in the future. The book, published by Bantam Press was serialised in British broadsheet newspaper The Times prior to its release.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrorist Hunters}}
Category:British autobiographies
Category:Books about terrorism
Category:Books about politics of the United Kingdom