EXCLUSIVE: Terrorist sent back to jail after failing lie detector test

EXCLUSIVE: Terrorist sent back to jail after failing lie detector test – one of the first carried out under new powers

• **EXCLUSIVE**
• Polygraph tests imposed on terrorists for first time since law changed last June
• Sophisticated lie detectors have already been used in 14 cases, source reveals
• One probation officer said ‘we are already seeing the value’ of the polygraphs

A convicted terrorist has been sent back to jail after failing a lie detector test – one of the first carried out under new powers.

Polygraph tests have been imposed on terrorists for the first time after the law changed in June last year, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The groundbreaking checks have already been used in 14 cases – and led to one terrorist being sent back to jail. 

Specially trained Ministry of Justice officials carry out the tests on convicted terrorists as part of Parole Board conditions.

A source said: ‘Since June 2021, 14 terrorists have undergone examinations and they have already provided valuable information that we would otherwise not have had. 

‘In one instance, this has led to the recall of an offender for breaching their licence conditions. 

Home Affairs correspondent Dave Barrett is connected up to the Lafayette Instruments Polygraph equipment – state-of-the-art lie detectors which are being used by Probation Services on convicted sex offenders and terrorists

The rollout comes after terrorist Usman Khan (pictured on CCTV) convinced supervisors he was a reformed man before stabbing Cambridge graduates Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt to death at Fishmongers’ Hall in London in 2019

‘We should stress that there is no evidence this person has committed a further offence or was actively pursuing a terrorist act.’ 

The identity of this criminal was not disclosed.

The rollout comes after terrorist Usman Khan convinced supervisors he was a reformed man before stabbing Cambridge graduates Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt to death at Fishmongers’ Hall in London in 2019. 

One probation officer involved in the programme said: ‘We are already seeing the value of it.’

Terrorists released on licence are not allowed to contact accomplices or others with terror convictions. 

They are often prevented from visiting certain places – which can be enforced with electronic tags.

They also face restrictions on internet access and phone use. Offenders face a return to prison if they breach licence conditions.

In polygraph tests they may be asked simple ‘yes or no’ questions such as: ‘Have you entered an exclusion zone?’, ‘Have you taken any actions to conceal your internet use?’ or ‘Have you contacted a member of a proscribed organisation?’ 

They could also be asked whether they have access to undisclosed bank accounts.

‘We review all the questions in advance and the offender knows exactly what they are going to be answering. It’s not like you see on TV,’ a polygraph examiner said.

‘In the testing room we create a sense of pressure and a sense of stress. 

‘Creating this sense of theatre about it does put people under pressure to disclose.’

Polygraph tests have been imposed on terrorists for the first time after the law changed in June last year, the Daily Mail can reveal. (Pictured: Outgoing Met Chief Dame Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson visit site of terror attack at Fishmonger’s Hall in London Bridge) 

Lafayette Instruments Polygraph equipment being used by Probation Services for use on convicted sex offenders and terrorists to determine if probation orders are being adhered to

The source said: ‘The consequences for these offenders failing a polygraph test are significant. 

‘Some of these people come out on licences that are ten or 12 years long. 

‘They could go back to prison for a very long period of time.’

Deliberately trying to cheat, or refusing to take part, would count as a breach of their licence conditions and would almost certainly see the offender back behind bars.

The Probation Service requests polygraph testing on all eligible terrorist offenders up for parole. 

They take tests within three months of release, and further testing takes place ‘as required’, a source said.

Sam Armstrong, of counter-terror think-tank the Henry Jackson Society, said: ‘The Government needs to roll these out for all terror offenders including those released on licence before the law came into effect.’

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘This technology is helping us to protect the public better.’

Polygraphs have been used on sex offenders since 2009.

Lie detector being used on sex offenders and terrorists is put to the test by the Daily Mail 

David Barrett trials the Government’s state-of-the-art lie detector tests, which are now being used on terrorists 

A sense of stress is all part of taking a lie detector test.

There is an element of theatre to the process, the experts tell me as I’m kitted out in a bewildering array of medical monitoring devices.

One’s body responds to the act of lying in the same way as it does to an unexpected bang on the window at night, the examiner says.

Primeval physiological responses show measurable changes in blood pressure, breathing rate, sweating and blood density in the extremities – often described as ‘fight or flight’.

‘You have no control over that,’ the examiner adds, ominously.

I am fitted with sensors on three fingers – a ‘plethysmograph’ to measure blood density and two which measure sweat levels – plus a blood pressure cuff and two strap-like ‘pneumographs’ around my chest to monitor breathing rate.

DAVE BARRETT: There is an element of theatre to the process, the experts tell me as I’m kitted out in a bewildering array of medical monitoring devices

There is also a motion sensor on my chair to ensure I remain absolutely still while taking the test, which is video-recorded for evidential purposes.

I am undertaking what is called a ‘peak of tension’ test – a form of calibration experiment which is conducted before offenders begin the ‘real’ examination which asks them about their activities.

The test subject – me, in this case – is told to deliberately tell an untruth so the examiner can study how the body responds.

I’m instructed to lie about a series of coloured numbers posted on the wall in front of me.

Each question is read out by a synthesised voice on a computer, so that no human speech inflections affect the test.

The 25-second gaps between the questions only add to the tension.

DAVE BARRETT: I am fitted with sensors on three fingers – a ‘plethysmograph’ to measure blood density and two which measure sweat levels – plus a blood pressure cuff and two strap-like ‘pneumographs’ around my chest to monitor breathing rate.

Working through the numbers one to six printed in black and red, I must say ‘No’ in response to the question ‘Is the number four red?’

I know it’s untrue, and everyone in the room can see it’s untrue, because the number four is indeed printed in red.

But the important thing is to demonstrate the technology can register what involuntarily happens in my body when I lie – and that the examiner can correctly interpret what he sees on his laptop screen.

It seems like such a simple exercise.

But the knowledge that my body’s barely perceptible responses are being watched, measured and recorded makes it a disconcerting experience. 

It feels a bit like a visit to the doctor’s surgery for some test results, a job interview, or waiting to turn over the examination paper at school, all rolled into one.

Afterwards, the examiner shows me the results – a graph depicting how sweating and blood pressure reached a peak as I told that little fib. 

DAVE BARRETT: It feels a bit like a visit to the doctor’s surgery for some test results, a job interview, or waiting to turn over the examination paper at school, all rolled into one

Even the anticipation of having to lie had sent the figures soaring on the graph.

‘It’s very clear to me that even though there were no consequences for you here in this scenario, the test showed when you were lying and when you were telling the truth,’ the examiner says.

‘There were clear physiological responses.’

I feel relief that my untruth has been exposed.

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