Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | London attack ‘inevitable’, says police chief
Britain’s ability to cope with a major terrorist strike was called into question today, as the commissioner of the Metropolitan police warned that such an attack was “inevitable” despite the best efforts of the security services.
Sir John Stevens said while anti-terror officers were “working three times harder than ever” to defend against atrocities such as that committed in Madrid last week, it would be a matter of time before “some sort of attack gets through”.
Sir John said: “Since September 11 there have been 520 arrests, half have been charged with an offence and there are 90 about to go through to court.
“We do know that we have actually stopped terrorist attacks happening in London but, as the prime minister and home secretary have said, there is an inevitability that some sort of attack will get through but my job is to make sure that does not happen.”