Jovial, polite guest seemed ‘totally normal’ before attack
At a run-down budget hotel in a Victorian villa in Brighton, a friendly stranger joked with staff before setting off for London in the smart new hatchback that he would use to attempt to murder 50 people.
Khalid Masood, 52, ate a kebab alone in room 228 of the Preston Park Hotel, on the outskirts of Brighton, on Wednesday before going to sleep. The following morning he again laughed with hotel workers before taking the wheel of the Hyundai SUV.
Michael Petersen, a businessman who was staying at the Preston Park Hotel, said his fellow guest, who registered under the lone name Massod, appeared ‘‘smiling, polite’’ the night before the attack.
Petersen said he encountered the killer in reception. ‘‘I noticed a very polite demeanour from him,’’ he told Sky News. ‘‘There was nothing in his conduct that would make me have suspicious thoughts towards him.’’
He said he had been thinking about the encounter ever since the attack. ‘‘The shocking realisation was that you can stand next to somebody who is totally, perfectly normal . . . articulate, polite, presentable – and the same guy is on his way to commit mass murder. That means it could potentially be anyone you’re standing next to.’’
Masood charmed the hotel’s staff so much that his computer booking carried a note – ‘‘nice man’’, according to The Sun.
Sabeur Toumi, the hotel manager, said Masood was ‘‘very friendly, laughing and had been joking’’ on the night before he set off for London.
Masood even discussed his family, saying that his father was ill and mentioning that he had ‘‘wonderful children’’. He is also said to have told staff that he felt London ‘‘wasn’t like what it used to be’’.
Soon after the attack, the hotel swiftly became host to dozens of counter-terrorism officers after detectives traced the Westminster trail of carnage from a receipt that was discovered in Masood’s wrecked hire car.
His room was swabbed for DNA evidence by police as counter-terrorism detectives worked to piece together the full pattern of his movements in the days before the attack. It appears that Masood checked in first on the previous Friday and left the next morning. He returned the night before the attack. Both times, he apparently requested a discount from hotel staff.
Masood is thought to have left his most recent home in Birmingham about three weeks ago, and it is not clear last night where else he might have been staying before the attack.