THE Conservative candidate for Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner, will conduct a full review of all Cleveland Police terrorism procedures if elected in May.

Steve Turner made the announcement as he welcomed Friday's Supreme Court ruling preventing 'ISIS bride' Shamima Begum from returning to the UK.

Mr Turner said: "My number one priority is to protect the safety of people living in the Cleveland Force area. The Home Secretary's is to protect the safety of everybody in the UK.

"Justice has prevailed thanks to Friday's Supreme Court ruling. It's only disappointing that the Home Secretary's original decision wasn’t respected in the first place.

"Terrorism is a sad reality of the world we live in today and we must do all we can to ensure the safety and security of all UK residents.

"We simply cannot allow weakness or squeamishness to get in the way of protecting the innocent. That's why I am commiting to a full review of all terrorism procedures in the Cleveland Force area if I am elected in May.

"And there is no room for the kind of misplaced, masochistic sympathy for terrorists that we so often hear coming from the usual suspects. We've seen this in full flow following the Supreme Court's decision.

"Let's get this straight. When Shamima Begum left these shores to join a terrorist organisation, she was at the age of criminal responsibility. She knew what she was doing, and having been brought up in the UK, she knew what she was doing was wrong.

"She joined ISIS, not out of ignorance, but because she had actually been inspired by watching videos of victims being beheaded.

"And while a member of that group in Syria, she witnessed the beheading of a man up close - something that would shake most of us to our core - yet she was unfazed. She considered that victim to be her enemy and she still does today.

"That's why people like Shamima Begum present a clear and present danger to the people of this country and to all of us living in the Cleveland Force area.

"And that's why the Supreme Court was absolutely right to uphold the Home Secretary's original decision. 

"Of course Shamima Begum is very keen to talk about her rights now. But she didn't care one bit about the rights of those people she was happy to watch being butchered.  

"She has never said sorry for what she has done and she probably never will. She's only sorry that her terrorist friends were defeated. Well I'm not the least bit sorry to see the back of her and I'm sure most people living in the Cleveland Force feel the same."

In 2015, Ms Begum left the UK for Syria to join the Islamic State group as a teenager. 

In 2019, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Ms Begum of her citizenship on national security grounds.

Now, aged 21, Ms Begum wants to return to the UK to challenge the Home Secretary's decision to remove her British nationality.

Last July, the Court of Appeal ruled to allow her into the UK to appeal against the decision, stating that it was her right.

The Home Office subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court to reconsider the Court of Appeal's judgement, arguing that allowing her to return to the UK "would create significant national security risks".

On Friday, the Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that her rights were not breached when she was refused permission to return.

Lord Reed, president of the Supreme Court, said the government had been entitled to prevent Ms Begum from returning to the UK.