THE number of high-security terrorist suspects in prison has risen to the highest level since the worst years of the IRA’s bombing campaigns.

The Times has learnt that there are 69 category A inmates in jails in England and Wales who are regarded by the Prison Service as terrorist detainees. Only 11 of those prisoners, who are all men, have been convicted under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A further 21 are on remand, several of them currently going through the courts in a series of trials which cannot be reported because of judicial orders.

Another 11 men are awaiting extradition to face terrorist charges overseas and 12 others are detained without trial, in either Belmarsh jail, South London, or Broadmoor special hospital, under the terms of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act.

A group of 14 men who have been convicted of charges not directly related to terrorism are viewed by the authorities as having terror connections.

Law enforcement agencies involved in tackling terrorism regard the high number detained as proof that they are engaged in successful investigative work that is preventing attacks in Britain.

But they are frustrated that the Law Lords’ ruling that the detention without trial of some suspects is unlawful has raised doubts about the nature of the threat in Britain.

One senior source said: “What the public does not get to see is the amount of work that is going on and the number of suspects who are detained. The number in prison at the moment is the highest for a very long time and that is indicative of the hard work that is going on away from public view.”

But human rights campaigners are increasingly concerned about the numbers of prisoners being held as terrorists. “This figure appears to be very, very high,” said Barry Hugill of Liberty.

“When it is compared to the low number of people actually convicted of an offence it creates the sense among the Muslim community that people are being pulled in against whom there is very little real evidence.

Among the category A detainees are Abu Hamza al-Masri, 46, the radical Islamist cleric who lost his arms in an explosion in Afghanistan. He was originally arrested on an American extradition warrant but is now being held on domestic terror charges at Belmarsh jail, where his lawyers say that his health is deteriorating.

Abu Qatada, a Jordanian-born cleric who preached an extremist version of Islam to London prayer groups, is among those detained without trial. He has been convicted in Jordan of terrorist offences but cannot be extradited there because he may face execution.

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