Police knew Westminster killer
OFF RADAR: SPY AGENCY CONSIDERED HIM A CRIMINAL WHO POSED NO REAL THREAT
IS claims responsibility for attack, but links with Masood are unclear.
Birmingham
Before he killed at least four people in Britain’s deadliest attack since the 2005 London bombings, Khalid Masood was considered by intelligence officers to be a criminal who posed little serious threat.
A British-born Muslim convert, Masood had shown up on the periphery of previous terrorism investigations that brought him to the attention of Britain’s MI5 spy agency.
But he was not under investigation when he sped across Westminster Bridge on Wednesday, ploughing down pedestrians with a hired car before running into the parliamentary grounds and fatally stabbing an unarmed policeman. He was shot dead by police.
Although some of those he was involved with included people suspected of being keen to travel to join jihadi groups overseas, Masood “himself never did so”, said a US government source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack,” London police said in a statement.
“However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including [grievous bodily harm], possession of offensive weapons and public order offences.”
Islamic State claimed responsibility for Masood’s attack, although it was unclear what links – if any – he had with the militant group.
The 52-year-old was born in Kent to the southeast of London and moved through several addresses in England, although he was known to have lived recently in Birmingham in central England.
Known by a number of other aliases, he racked up a string of convictions, but none for terrorism-related offences. His occupation was unclear.
It was as long ago as November 1983 that he first came to the attention of authorities when he was found guilty of causing criminal damage, while his last conviction came 14 years ago, in December 2003, for possession of a knife.
Little detail has officially been given about the man and what might have led him to carry out Wednesday’s attack, the deadliest in Britain since the London suicide bombings of 2005 by four young British Islamists, which killed 52.
“Our working assumption is that he was inspired by international terrorism,” said Britain’s most senior counterterrorism police officer, Mark Rowley, adding: “Islamist-related terrorism is our assumption.” – Reuters