MARTYN'S LAW

Prepare & Protect

In 2017 the UK experienced domestic terrorist attacks at a catastrophic level, five attacks in London and Manchester that resulted in the deaths of 36 innocent people and injured many more. This forced the UK government and security agencies to raise the UK National Threat Level to Severe, meaning ‘an attack is highly likely’.

 

The UK’s initial response was to review the current UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The output of this review was to counter both domestic and international terror networks with the implementation of the CONTEST strategy (2018), which superseded the CONTEST and PREVENT Strategy published in 2011. This new strategy focused on 4 key pillars:

 

• Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
• Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks.
• Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack.
• Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack.

 

In response to the Manchester bombings in 2017 and following an investigation a man called Martyn Hett was identified as a victim of the terror attack. Following the investigation Martyn’s mother, Figen Murray, also identified that there were grave concerns around the lack of security in venues that could easily become a soft and credible terrorist target. Figen Murray then lobbied and pushed for change across the security industry and legislation, with a view of making a significant difference across the identified areas of vulnerability.

 

Martyn’s Law (also known at the Protect Duty) compliments the UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy, CONTEST (2018), and applies new protective and reactive security measures in any place with which the public has access. Martyn’s Law has 5 key requirements:

 

1. Engage with freely available counter-terrorism advice and training
2. Conduct vulnerability assessments of their operating places and spaces
3. Mitigate the risks created by the vulnerabilities
4. Put in place have a counter-terrorism plan; and
5. A requirement for local authorities to plan for the threat of terrorism.

There are three main areas it will apply to:

 

1. Public venues (eg. entertainment and sports venues, tourist attractions, shopping centres with a capacity of 100 persons or more)
   
   
2. Large organisations (eg. retail or entertainment chains employing 250 staff or more that operate at publicly accessible locations)
   
   
3. Public spaces (eg. public parks, beaches, thoroughfares, bridges, town/city squares and pedestrianised areas). This includes event organisers using these spaces.

The objective of Martyn's Law:

1. To keep people safe and to scale up preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks.
    
2. Martyn’s Law will ensure better protection against the continued and evolving threat that the UK faces from terrorism. 
   
3. Support, guidance and training will help embed best practice and drive-up standards across the UK.

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