London Bridge attacker was ‘energised’ by Choudary
Inquest told that killer had been reported to police and appeared on ‘Jihadis Next Door’ documentary
THE family of one of the London Bridge attackers reported him to police over his extreme beliefs, an inquest heard yesterday as it emerged he was “energised” by the company of Anjem Choudary.
Khuram Butt was said to have alarmed relatives with his increasingly outspoken views on Islamist terrorism and had attempted to travel to Syria around two years before the atrocity.
The 27-year-old was under investigation by MI5 when he and two accomplices indiscriminately attacked pedestrians with a van and knives on London Bridge and in Borough Market on June 3 2017.
New details about the personal lives of the three killers emerged yesterday at the inquests into the deaths of the eight people who were murdered that night.
Butt was described as being “like a lion out of a cage” when in the presence of Choudary, who led al-muhajiroun, the banned extremist group, in the years before the plot unfolded. The London Bridge attacker was believed to have had links to al-muhajiroun and even appeared on a Channel 4 documentary called The Jihadis Next Door in 2016.
The Old Bailey heard that Butt, a British citizen born in Pakistan, was once described as a “party animal” who liked reggae music and smoking cannabis.
But by 2013 there were hints of radicalisation and in September 2015 he was reported to an anti-terrorism hotline by a relative concerned about his fundamentalist views.
Usman Darr had been forced to challenge his brother-in-law over his response to a video by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) that showed a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage.
So alarmed was he by the outlook of his wife’s brother that he tipped off police, the Old Bailey heard.
Earlier in 2015, Butt had bought a ticket to travel to Syria, then the heartland of Isil’s self-proclaimed caliphate, but ditched the plans when his family threatened to disown him.
A friend of the terrorist, Hamza Raza, told investigators Butt first came into contact with Choudary at around that time.
“He met Choudary when he had gone round to Butt’s home once during the Ramadan period,” Jonathan Hough QC, counsel to the inquiry, said.
Butt was said to have “brought shame on the family” when The Jihadis Next Door was broadcast the following year, in January 2016.
However, despite appearing on the documentary, he was still able to get a job on the London Underground several months later. Background checks had not thrown up any links to the programme, the inquest was told.
Acting Det Chief Insp Wayne Jolley, who investigated the attacker’s background, said the role gave him access to secure areas of stations including Westminster.
He was also occasionally tasked with inspecting suspicious packages.
Butt was eventually sacked from the role after failing probation in October 2016.
It is believed Butt formed a terror cell with Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, when the three began training together at the Ummah Fitness Centre in Ilford, east London. The inquests continue.