One of the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby is now regarded as the most dangerous prisoner in the British penal system.
Muslim extremist Michael Adebolajo, 31, has been described by prison officer as “violent, unpredictable and a major danger to other prisoners”.
But the real threat he poses is his ability to radicalise other inmates, prison sources have revealed.
Dozens of prisoners have said to have fallen for Adebolajo’s twisted version of Islam and have vowed to become Jihadis when they are eventually freed.
Even non-Muslim prisoners are said to have converted to Islam and sworn an allegiance to Islamic State after being radicalised by the killer.
One prison official said: “Adebolajo spends most of his waking hours preaching his distorted form of Islam to anyone who will listen. He sees every inmate as a potential Islamic State soldier whether they are Muslims or not.
"He has a big personality and is very charismatic and some of the more vulnerable prisoners will fall under his spell. He is a very dangerous individual.”
The source said that Adebolajo now sees his role in life to recruit as many Jihadis as possible for the remainder of his life.
It is understood that Adebolajo has been given “special category” status because of the danger he represents.
Details of the threat posed by one of the UK’s most notorious killers emerged just weeks after 33 people were killed and more than 100 injured in terrorist attacks in Manchester and London.
Murderer Adebolajo was moved from top security Belmarsh Prison in South London to HMP Frankland in County Durham, another Category A prison, in 2014.
Keeping the terrorist killer confined in HMP Frankland - one of Britain’s most notorious prisons - cost the tax payer an estimated £1500 a week or £78,000 a year.
The source added: “If he is suspected of trying to radicalise other inmates we step in and move him.
"But even in prison Adebolajo cannot be watched all the time. We don’t have the staff or the resources.”
Adebolajo and accomplice Michael Adebowale murdered defenceless Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, near his barracks in Woolwich Barracks, South East London in 2013.
The two terrorists mowed him down in a car before hacking him with knives and a cleaver.
The men dragged Rigby’s body into the road and remained at the scene until police arrived.
They told passers-by that they had killed a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British armed forces
Both men received life sentences. Adebolajo was given a whole life order excluding the possibility of parole, and Adebowale, was given a minimum term of 45 years in prison.
The killer now walks along the same prison landings as Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, double child killer Ian Huntley, Rhys Jones murderer Sean Hughes, and Levi Bellfield.