MI5 knew terrorist was plotting attack before deadly London stabbings

LONDON: British intelligence agency MI5 knew that Usman Khan — the convicted terrorist who murdered two people in a London attack in 2019 — was plotting an attack before he was released from jail, a court was told yesterday.
Khan was labeled as being at “high risk of carrying out an attack” following his release from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for his part in a London Stock Exchange bomb plot.
He stabbed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, two graduate students who were attending a prisoner rehabilitation conference in London in November 2019.
A pre-inquest hearing found that police and probation officers had eased Khan’s release restrictions, allowing him to travel to the conference at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall — less than a mile from his original target.
The findings raise alarm over the growing risks posed by Islamist extremists released from prison. Just three months after the attack, Sudesh Amman, another convicted terrorist, was shot dead by police after carrying out a spree of stabbings in South London after his release from prison.
Khan, 28, wore a fake explosive vest during the 2019 attack. He was brought to the ground by members of the public before being shot dead by police.
He was given permission to join the conference despite playing a role in prison radicalization, taking senior roles in terror groups and encouraging violence, a court was told. He was classed by authorities as a “most dangerous prisoner” until shortly before his 2018 release.
Nick Armstrong, a lawyer representing the family of Merritt, said: “MI5 had intelligence shortly before Khan’s release that he was planning a post-release attack, and upgraded his priority rating.”
Following Khan’s release, MI5 officers feared that he “might have manipulated” his restrictions.
Armstrong said that there was a lack of communication between MI5 and the probation officers responsible for monitoring Khan. “Even a hint that he posed a risk may have made a difference,” he added.
Philip Rule, representing Jones’ family, said both families want MI5 officers who were involved in monitoring Khan to give evidence at the inquest and explain the decisions taken in the lead-up to the attack.
However, the intelligence agency has said it will ask UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to impose a secrecy order on some documents considered relevant in the investigation.
MI5 wants a single senior officer to give evidence of the agency’s dealings with Khan before and after his prison release.
The inquests are expected to begin in April this year.

MI5 knew terrorist was plotting attack before deadly London stabbings