‘I warned officials about Khan’
AUTHORITIES were warned about the London Bridge attacker’s temper eight months before he stabbed two people to death, it has been claimed.
An ex-Scotland Yard officer who mentored Usman Khan following his release from jail described how the killer flew into a rage as he ranted about restrictions on his freedom.
They included wearing an electronic tag, having his internet access limited and travel around the country curbed.
“During the meeting he went from being measured and calm to suddenly being enraged about something he claimed the probation services weren’t allowing him to do,” the ex-officer reportedly said.
“That sudden shift in his demeanour was alarming. But he was very selfaware and immediately self-corrected his behaviour when he realised I’d noticed his shift. He said, ‘It’s nothing, it’s nothing’, to play down his anger.”
The ex-officer detailed Khan’s loss of control in an assessment report that was sent to the Home Office and the Probation Service.
Khan, 28, was released from jail in November last year after serving half of a 16-year sentence for his part in a plot to bomb iconic London targets, including the Stock Exchange and Westminster Abbey.
He persuaded oficials to relax his travel ban so he could attend a rehabilitation conference at Fishmongers’ Hall in the city on November 29.
There, he stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, to death.
Khan’s former mentor said: “I am prepared to speak to people in authority to ensure that lessons are learned and no more innocent lives are lost as a result of terrorist acts.”
The ex-officer spent more than 50 hours with Khan after he was released from prison. He spoke out after the funerals of both Mr Merritt and Miss Jones took place on Friday.
The pair worked for the Cambridge University Learning Together project, which aims to connect offenders with people in higher education so they can study together.