Police chief: UK terror attack inevitable

A terrorist chemical, biological or radioactive attack in the UK is inevitable, a leading police expert has said.

David Kelly, Kent Assistant Chief Constable, said police must be prepared that terrorists with such weapons "will get through" and there would be casualties.

"Prevention is always best," he told Police Review magazine, but added: "It would be naive of us to believe we could always prevent it.

Mr Kelly, the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on chemical, biological and nuclear response said:

"They are going to get through and when they do get through we have got to be able to put in a credible response.

"If we do have (an attack) I would not want to be the officer in charge saying 'We never thought it was going to happen'.

"We have to be responsible and say we think it could happen and therefore we need a response.

"What would be untenable is if we, as senior officers in the service, had not taken the threat seriously and had not taken any steps to provide a credible and effective response.

"We are dealing with people who are not intent on getting away from the scene safely - to be a martyr for the cause is something a number of these people are not afraid of.

"Clearly, if people are quite willing to fly planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon then you cannot imagine they would shrink from using - if they could - potentially devastating chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons."

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