COLD-EYED FACES OF HATRED
Dope–smoking Pakistani refugee who lived on benefits held ‘last supper’ in an East End park
THE life of the self-styled soldier of Allah ended in a hail of bullets. It began 27 years ago in a corner of Pakistan known as the ‘land of martyrs’.
Khuram Butt, who was named last night as one of the Borough Market murderers, became a child refugee and was given sanctuary in Britain.
Yesterday police admitted the married father of two, who had a newborn baby, was known to the authorities before he embarked on his sickening rampage slitting throats and stabbing pub-goers while shrieking: ‘This one’s for Allah.’
Butt was born on April 20, 1990, in Jhelum, an area of the Punjab famous for supplying soldiers to the British Army during the Raj, earning it the nicknames ‘city of soldiers’ and ‘land of martyrs and warriors’.
In the early 1990s, the region was riven with political unrest, and when he was two, Butt’s family moved to Britain. The family, including his elder brother Saad and sister Haleema, arrived as asylum seekers and settled in Barking, East London.
Yesterday the police were questioning members of the family including Butt’s 28-year-old sister. A woman at her £550,000 semi-detached house in Harrow, North London, confirmed she was with the police.
Saad said the family wanted to be left alone to grieve.
The 29-year-old, who served on a young Muslims police advisory group, suggested the family would issue a detailed statement later.
Since the atrocity, there has been no answer at the home of Butt’s 60year-old mother Fahmida Akhtar.
In his early years, Butt is said to have attended Shaftesbury Primary School in East London. A former family friend said: ‘He was a cheeky chappie.’
When he was seven or eight, Butt was knocked down by a car after which he walked with a limp for a while. He went on to Stratford Academy in Forest Gate but apparently went off the rails following the sudden death of his father Saif in 2003.
A neighbour said: ‘The kids were very young when their father passed away. It was probably quite traumatic seeing your dad lying there like that. The father was such a nice man. He worked night shifts selling fruit and veg at a stall in Queens Market in Upton Park, getting cash in hand.
‘The father used to take care to bring them up properly and make sure they didn’t stray.’
In his teenage years, Butt was ‘really naughty’, ‘mouthy’ and ‘argumentative’, according to a neighbour, who added: ‘He was uncontrolled. His dad wasn’t there any more. The older brother ended up playing the father figure.’
Butt is said to have studied at Newham Sixth Form before gaining an NVQ in business administration in 2009, and a diploma in teaching English as a foreign language.
Aged 22, he started working at an admin office of the fastfood chain KFC, where a former colleague said: ‘He was a normal person, quite a friendly guy. He was going to clubs and pubs. He liked to go out with the girls.’
One former friend said he was a dope- smoking footballer who had a string of girlfriends. ‘He liked to go out a lot. He had a few girlfriends, he was just a normal guy,’ the friend said.
‘He was a good footballer, a member of a club and he used to smoke a bit of weed and had a wide circle of friends, black, white, Asian.’ Butt took part in an arranged marriage in Chigwell, Essex, in a ceremony attended by more than 400 people.
A year ago, he took a job as a customer services assistant on the London Underground. He spent much of his time living off benefits and drifting between jobs. He began call- ing himself ‘ Jim Jones’ and also Abu or Abdul Zaitun – Abz for short – and signs of an increasing rebellious streak included leaving his red Peugeot 107 in a no-park zone and amassing parking tickets.
Neighbour Furqan Nabi said: ‘It was a bit strange, but he clearly didn’t care.
‘He kept changing his beard style and his hair. One day he would have longer hair, then he’d have shorter hair and then he would shave it all off.’
Another neighbour said: ‘His wife would wear the full burka. He’s got two kids, a newborn baby and a two-year-old son.
‘He played with my daughter who is one year old – that’s what’s really crazy about the situation. I saw him all the time. He seemed like a really cool guy.’
Alarmed parents reported Butt to police after he tried to convert children to radical Islam by giving them sweets. Erica Gasparri, a 42-year-old Italian mother of three, said she spotted ‘Abz’ in the park surrounded by children.
‘My kids came home from the park and said: “Mummy, Abz is giving us sweets and can we become Muslims?” I questioned my kids and they said he had said: “Allah is a very important person and Islam is the only religion that will save you”.’
She said she confronted him and he replied: ‘Your people, all of you, Americans, Europeans, going in our countries and killing our innocent children. In the name of Allah I’m ready even to kill my mother.’
She said he went on to defend the killers of drummer Lee Rigby and the Paris terrorists who struck at the magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. ‘He was so angry with me I thought he was going to take my life that day when I confronted him.
‘I’m lucky I’m still alive,’ she said. Miss Gasparri was not
‘He used to smoke a bit of weed’
the only one to report Butt to police. One of his friends phoned the anti-terror hotline, alarmed at hearing Butt’s ‘justification’ for terror attacks in the news. The friend told the BBC: ‘That day I realised I needed to contact the authorities.
‘I phoned the anti-terrorist hotline, I spoke to the gentleman. I told him about our conversation and why I think he’s been radicalised. I did my bit. I know a lot of people did. But the authorities did not do their bit.’ He said Butt had started listening to online rants by Ahmad Musa Jibril, an Arab-American preacher of hate who influenced several Westerners to join Islamic State.
Butt was a supporter of Anjem Choudary’s banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun. He was banned from his local mosque, the Jabir Bin Zayd Islamic Centre, for parroting Choudary. One worshipper said: ‘He kept shouting “Only God is in charge”. Last year, ‘Abz’ featured in a Channel 4 documentary about British jihadists and unfurled an Islamic State-style flag in Regent’s Park under the noses of police. A week ago, he hosted a ‘last supper’ barbecue in Barking Park.
A 30-year-old neighbour said: ‘It was all men, not even any kids, they were all Muslims. He invited me but I didn’t attend.’ When asked if it was a ‘last supper’ BBQ, he said: ‘Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.’
Another neighbour, Ken Chigbo, 26, had rented a van to move home and Butt ‘was particularly interested in the van I hired, where I got it from and if it was an automatic’.
A short time later, Butt was seen driving his own rented van ‘really fast’ at children on his estate, apparently in a practice run for his murderous rampage.
Butt posted quotes from the Koran on the messaging service Whatsapp days before his terror rampage. His profile picture also recited lines from the Koran and said: ‘Speak justice, speak kindly, speak fairly, speak gently, speak graciously, speak not in vain.’
‘He was interested in a van I hired’