82 seconds of carnage
That’s how long police say it took crazed killer to wreak his bloody trail. . . as MoS reveals his links to UK hate preacher
THE terror attack in Westminster was over in just 82 seconds, Scotland Yard revealed last night.
In that time, crazed Islamist Khalid Masood killed three pedestrians and injured dozens more, crashed his car, ran through the gates into Parliament and stabbed a brave policemen to death before being shot dead by an armed officer.
The Metropolitan Police released the first detailed timings of Wednesday’s atrocity after piecing them together from eyewitness accounts, CCTV footage and 999 calls – but they admitted they are still trying to establish if the killer had accomplices.
It is believed Masood was using the WhatsApp messaging service on his mobile phone seconds before he struck, strengthening suspicions he was not a ‘lone wolf’.
Last night Mahood’s girlfriend, 39-year-old Rohey Hydara, was told she faces no further action after being released on bail and only one of the 11 people arrested in the wake of the attack remains in custody. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Masood, 52, had links to Britain’s most notorious Islamist group, the banned Al-Muhajiroun, and worshipped at a mosque frequented by its leader Anjem Choudary, who is now in jail for inciting support for Islamic State.
This newspaper has also established that police found a document in his pocket that led them to the Birmingham bedsit where he was holed up before the attack. In a statement last night, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the Senior National Coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said: ‘We still believe that Masood acted alone on the day and there is no information or intelligence to suggest there are further attacks planned. Nevertheless, we are
Police believe he was using WhatsApp
determined to understand if Masood was a lone actor inspired by terrorist propaganda or if others have encouraged, supported or directed him.’
The timings revealed by the Met show that Masood, driving a grey Hyundai 4x4, mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge at 14:40:08 on Wednesday. He careered into bystanders on Bridge Street and just 30 seconds later smashed the hired car into the perimeter fence of the Palace of Westminster. Seconds later the first calls were made to the emergency services as Muslim convert Masood abandoned the car, sprinted through the open Carriage Gates and fatally wounded PC Keith Palmer even though he was wearing a stab vest. By 14:41:30 the terrorist had been gunned down by an armed officer. In the aftermath of
the worst terrorist attack in Britain since 7/7, it emerged that Masood had been born Adrian Russell Elms to an unmarried teenage single mother and had drifted into drugs and crime while still a teenager.
After being imprisoned for violence, it is believed he converted to Islam while in jail and may have become more hardline after working in Saudi Arabia as an English teacher.
But today it can be revealed that he was investigated by MI5 for alleged links to Al-Muhajiroun (ALM). One source said the security services were alerted to Masood in the aftermath of the 2005 terror attacks on London because he was an associate of a leading figure in ALM later jailed for ‘preparing acts of terrorism’.
Another source said Masood was photographed by the security services after he attended meetings hosted by Choudary.
MI5 opened a file on him and a source said: ‘For us it was like, who’s the new guy on the block? He must be pretty well connected.’
But following more surveillance, he was not considered to be a significant suspect.
Neighbours say he used to worship at the Al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton, East London, which has been linked to former members of ALM. The mosque practises a hardline brand of Islam known as Wahhabism that is considered a ‘conveyor belt’ to terrorism. Choudary used to worship there, as did Trevor Brooks, who adopted the Islamic name Abu Izzadeen. Brooks was jailed last year for two years for flouting a travel ban as he tried to make his way to fight in Syria, and was wrongly suspected at first of being the Westminster killer. A recent study showed that since 2000, 23 out of 51 terrorist plots foiled by British police have been linked to ALM.
Last night the owner of a corner shop close to Masood’s last known address told how police had tracked it down.
Raviyar Sedighi, 36, who owns Hagley Supermarket two doors down from Masood’s bedsit in Birmingham, said a plain-clothed policeman told him on Thursday morning that the terrorist had been found with a document on him with the address of the property on it.
He also told Mr Sedighi that his mobile phone was linked to the property.
Mr Sedighi described keen bodybuilder Masood as ‘a normal customer’, adding: ‘He bought Red Bull, cashew nuts, pistachios and almonds. He paid cash.’
He said he sometimes wore Islamic dress but on other occasions would wear trousers and a shirt.
Additional reporting by Nick Craven, Mark Nicol and Simon Murphy.
‘We thought, he must be pretty well connected’