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The suspect who carried out the violent assault at a Jewish house of worship in Manchester had been released on police bail in connection with an alleged rape at the time, according to reports.

Jihad al-Shamie, aged 35, was being probed for the reported sexual assault that is said to have happened in recent months.

The attacker, who was born in Syria, is believed to have previous criminal convictions, though he had not drawn attention from anti-terror authorities.

Shamie was fatally shot by responding police following the murder of a member of the Jewish community and severely injured several other people during the attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester's northern area on Thursday.

Two individuals, Adrian Daulby, 53 and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died during the incident. One of them succumbed to a round discharged by officers targeting the attacker.

Anti-terror units and security services are working to uncover the attacker's background, as it is believed that he selected Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, to attack those praying.

Although Shamie was not known to anti-terror organizations or referred to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent, he had faced prosecution for criminal offenses.

The exact timing the reported rape occurred, but Shamie had been bailed while under investigation by Greater Manchester police.

One source stated that he had additional criminal convictions, though for minor infractions with no connection to terrorist activities.

“He was on nobody’s radar for terrorism but he certainly possessed a criminal record, though no indication he was going to do anything like this,” said one source.

Authorities are examining whether Shamie was behind a death threat to a ex-Member of Parliament in 2012.

The email to John Howell was sent by someone identifying as “Jihad Alshamie” and said, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”

The former MP, who left his position as MP for Henley in 2024, expressed uncertainty if it was the same person and felt that police had not taken the threat against his life with adequate seriousness at the time.

A news report from that year indicated that he was likely targeted due to his support for Israel.

“I don’t want to seem overdramatic, but you have to take seriously a threat when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead,’” the former MP said in 2012, in coverage from media outlets.

“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is weird enough, with a distorted view of life, to make an attempt to carry this out.” He noted that local police had provided him with “highly effective security advice.”

Law enforcement have not confirmed whether the “Jihad Alshamie” who messaged the former MP is the identical person who committed the assault on the synagogue, but they are investigating a possible link.

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, stated that Shamie was not under ongoing scrutiny by counter-terrorism police or intelligence services when the incident. They did not believe he had ever been on their radar, although inquiries were still ongoing.