The terrorist’s lair
A chilling picture of a typical London scene hangs on the wall of the Westminster killer’s hideaway. We go inside...
Neighbour tells of life with monster in next room
TERRORIST Khalid Masood lived cooped up for months pumping iron in a shared flat – decorated with a giant photo of Westminster.
The 52-year-old maniac left his wife and children for the lair above a restaurant, where he lived in his own world, plotting his atrocity in London.
Flatmate 26, said: “For three months I was living next to the terrorist who shocked the world.
“He was sitting here planning the attack and I believe he may have got inspiration from the picture.
“Every time he went from his room to the kitchen he passed in front of it.
“It’s scary to think this monster was living a few feet away from where I slept. I can’t believe that I came so close to true evil.”
said Masood was emotionless and mysteriously locked others out of the Birmingham flat from the inside, before he vanished on his mission.
The Muslim convert cooked in a communal room, in front of the large IKEA print of a double-decker bus.
The picture, which includes a City of Westminster sign, shows streets just a mile from his bloody attack on the bridge, which claimed five lives.
Masood moved into the tiny £450-amonth room last December. And he lived there in virtual isolation, just the four walls, pumping iron for hours. The flatmate added: “The way he lived wasn’t healthy, he never saw daylight and he never went outside. He couldn’t find any reason to hold on to life.”
For the first week he made repeated demands for the internet to be fixed and seemed “desperate” to get online.
says the terrorist had no visitors during the next three months. He vanished from the property three days before striking at the heart of London.
When armed police entered the terrorist’s room they found pop music playing on a loop. whose door is adjacent to Masood’s, said: “I believe he wanted access to the internet so he could prepare and plan.
“His room was just a bed, a bathroom and gym equipment, nothing on the walls. Khalid stayed there most of the time. I only really saw him when he was cooking or washing clothes.
“He was big and very muscly and always lifting iron to gain strength.
Masood – born Adrian Elms – grew up in leafy Kent and Sussex and enjoyed a comfortable upbringing.
He had two daughters with partner Jane Harvey, 48. But he turned to drugs and crime and went to jail for GBH.
After changing his name, Masood moved to Luton with eldest daughter Andi, 24, who also converted to Islam.
He married a second woman before splitting and is then believed to
He lived in his own world, just the four walls of his tiny room, pumping iron for hours
FORMER FLATMATE OF TERRORIST MASOOD
have started a family with third wife, Rohey Hydara, 39, before settling down in Birmingham, two miles from the flat.
It is not known why they moved out shortly before Christmas but she has since condemned the attack.
We can also reveal Masood owed hundreds of pounds to the taxman and was being chased by HMRC at the time of his death.
Engineer who works with Jaguar Land Rover, had been in the flat 10 months when Masood arrived.
The property, which spans three floors, has seven ensuite rooms and a communal kitchen and living room.
During the time Masood lived there, he shared it with three other tenants – including
He added: “When we first met I gave him my name and he said: “It is a Muslim name, are you Muslim? When I told him I didn’t follow any religion, he didn’t mention it again. Khalid was calm, almost emotionless – I never saw him angry or happy. He always wore Muslim clothes, a onepiece from shoulders to feet, and he had several robes in different colours.
“He looked smart, and was intelligent but he didn’t have any visitors.”
The tenants say unemployed Masood was paying HMRC £100 a month over an unpaid tax bill. During his stay he had several minor confrontations with his housemates.
They claim he used to deliberately lock them out of the building using a deadlock on the inside of front door.
And the terrorist became angry when he thought another tenant was smoking cannabis upstairs. said: “Khalid asked me ‘are you smoking weed?’ I told him ‘no’ and he left it at that.
“But he definitely recognised the smell of cannabis. During the three months we lived together I only saw him laugh once, when I joked about the rental agency.”
Three days before the attack on Westminster Bridge, Masood left Birmingham without telling anyone and travelled to a hotel in Brighton.
On March 22 he drove a car at high speed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Teacher Aysha Frade, 43, pensioner Leslie Rhodes, 75, and tourists Kurt Cochran, 54, and Andreea Cristea, 31, died – 50 were injured.
Masood then abandoned his hire car and fatally stabbed unarmed PC Keith Palmer, 48, outside parliament.
The attack lasted 82 seconds and ended as the terrorist was shot dead.
Later that night armed police raided the Birmingham flat, located above the Shiraz Persian restaurant.
said: “I opened my door and saw green laser gun sights on the wall. It was like something out of a film.
“I heard shouts of ‘show your hands’ and walked around the corner to see three weapons pointed at me.
“It was really scary, I was the most afraid I have been in my life. When police broke down his door I heard pop music playing in his room, it must have been on for three days.
“I only realised Khalid was the terrorist when I saw pictures of his body in Westminster.” Masood’s possessions were still piled by his room in black bin bags this week.
Police arrested three people during the raid, including a young married couple in their 20s who had only moved in that morning.
The trio, who have not been named, were all later released without charge.
added: “The young man and woman were really unlucky, it was a very scary experience for them.
“He’s dead now so I’m not scared but I’m still planning to move out.
“I feel uncomfortable because what he did was so evil.”
Masood’s room is now occupied by care worker Daraelle Sappleton, 18. He was given no warning about the previous occupant when he moved in last week.
Daraelle said: “I don’t feel in any danger because he’s not here any more. But I wish I had been told about the room – it’s a bit of a shock.”