A final goodbye to his daughter before killer left to start rampage
Rachid Redouane, a chef from Morocco, visited the home of his estranged wife on evening of terror attack
Harry Yorke, Ben Farmer
Martin Evans
A MOROCCAN chef who took part in the London terror attack is believed to have visited his estranged wife hours earlier to say goodbye to their daughter.
Rachid Redouane was seen visiting his wife, Charisse, only three hours before he and two others killed seven by ramming crowds with a van and launching a knife attack, neighbours said.
One told The Daily Telegraph he had stood next to the terrorist in a lift as he went up to his wife’s apartment.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, and who lives in the same apartment block as Redouane’s wife, said: “I was standing right next to him in that lift.
“I’ve seen him four or five times, he’s come here often to see his daughter. He didn’t say a word, we just stood there silently until we got to his floor.
“It was only the next day when my mate told me about the attacks that I realised it was him.
“It’s scary. I don’t like the fact that my kids were living in the same block as this guy. He was there at 7pm.”
Large numbers of police arrived at the block of flats on Sunday after the attack.
Another couple living in the same block, just a few hundred yards from where another attacker, Khuram Butt lived, also said Redouane had visited on Saturday evening. The couple, who were aged in their 20s and wished to remain anonymous, said he then left the apartment block and signed out at reception.
The man said: “The whole block is talking about it, about how he came to say goodbye to her and his daughter before they left.
“The police came yesterday morning, there were dozens of them. We know he signed out at reception because guests visiting have to. He was here just before it all happened.” Redouane is listed on his daughter’s birth certificate as Moroccan and gives his profession as pastry chef. However, police said he also claimed to be Libyan and had used the name Rachid Elkhdar, claiming to be six years younger.
Redouane was not known to the security services, according to a police statement. An Irish ID card was found on his body after he was shot dead by armed police in Borough Market.
The plastic credit card-sized document is believed to have been issued by the Garda National Immigration Bureau and is given to people from outside the European Union. The card has a person’s certificate of registration which states they have permission to stay in Ireland. It must be carried at all times.
Redouane married his wife, 38, in Ireland in 2012, and they later moved to the UK. She never converted to his faith, and they had recently split up, the Guardian reported. A friend said they clashed over how to raise their daughter. On social media Redouane’s wife had recently described herself as single and complained that her daughter’s father was not seeing his child.
Redouane had been living in the Rathmines area in the south of Dublin while in Ireland, according to Irish police sources, and had spent time there as recently as three months ago.
Enda Kenny, the outgoing Irish leader, said the dead terrorist was not believed to have been one of the “small number” under surveillance by Irish police. They are reportedly watching up to 12 foreigners, mainly of north African origin, over suspected links to extremist groups.
Gardaí are understood to be piecing together Redouane’s movements in the country over recent years and whether he was radicalised in the country.
As details of Redouane’s Irish links were disclosed, a Muslim imam and scholar based in the country said Irish authorities had repeatedly ignored his warnings about local activists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) group and al-qaeda activists.
Dr Umar al-qadri said neither the police nor justice department contacted him after he warned of an Islamist extremist presence in Dublin.