From nice guy to terrorist

He drifted from job to job, working as a sales rep and running a television aerial installation business. But in 1991 he met his his long-term partner Jane Harvey, 48, a successful businesswoman. He then moved into her £700,000 home in the well-to- do village of Northiam, near Rye in East Sussex.

The couple went on to have two daughters and Masood worked as a manager in Miss Harvey's business, Aaron Chemicals.

A friend, who did not want to be named, said Masood had been a 'charming' young man at the time when he met Miss Harvey.

Of Miss Harvey, known to her friends as Jay, she said: 'Jay's a very efficient, business type person. She's always provided for her children.'

But when their oldest daughter was eight, Masood was jailed for two years after slashing a man's face with a knife in a violent confrontation outside a local pub. He tried to blame racism for the appalling violence, which left his victim Piers Mott needing 20 stitches to a gaping wound in his cheek.

Masood told Hove Crown Court he snapped because of racism in the village and claimed he had been ostracised because villagers had a 'view of black people'.

Neighbours said he was radicalised during that two-year jail sentence, and abandoned his old life after his release from prison, including Miss Harvey and their two young daughters. One villager said: 'When he got out of prison he decided he wanted to live an Islamic life and didn't want anything to do with his past life at all.

'He left Jay and the girls and went to live in some dump in Eastbourne, and I think he met someone else. He never came back after that and Jay was left to bring up the two girls on her own.'

Tragedy struck when their elder daughter Andi was hit by a car as she ran to catch a school bus and was almost killed, the neighbour said. Her injuries were so serious that she was left in a wheelchair – a family tragedy which may have affected Masood's decision to use a car to mow down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

Masood convinced his elder daughter, now 24, to convert to Islam, change her name and wear a full face burka. It sparked a bitter fight with Miss Harvey. He had also asked his younger daughter, now 19, to convert and move to Birmingham with him, a friend added, but the girl refused. The friend said: 'The elder daughter converted to Islam and is living in Birmingham.

'She wears a full face veil and I think had changed her name. It was her father who had helped convert her. He wanted the younger daughter to convert but Jane was against it and there was quite a family struggle. The couple's other daughter, now 19, lives with Miss Harvey and pictures show mother and daughter enjoying days out at the races or ice skating. There is no suggestion that any of the family, including the elder daughter, is a radical Islamist or knew about her father's extreme beliefs or his plans.

A casual acquaintance whop knew him when he moved to Eastbourne told the BBC Masood used both cocaine and bodybuilding steroids. But he was also on the cusp of a change in identity.

'I first met him in a pub around Christmas Eve 2001,' the former electrician said. 'I was introduced to him as 'Black Ady'.

'The next time I saw him it was summer 2002 – he was on steroids, though he wasn't huge. He took quite a lot of cocaine and he seemed to like women with pink hair . He had one girlfriend and she had silicone breasts.'

In 2004, Masood – still using the name Adrian Elms – married Farzana Malik, then a 25-year- old marketing assistant, at Medway Register Office in Rochester, Kent.

The couple have since split and she has married again.

Yesterday, Mrs Malik was being comforted by her family, including her second husband, at her home in Oldham.

On her Facebook page 'Soul Searchers', she describes Islamic fanaticism as 'nonsensical', in a lengthy tirade which calls on her fellow Muslims to heed their true faith, concluding 'unless they do that, radicalism will continue to plague the world.'

Masood moved to Luton, when radical preacher Anjem Choudary was a frequent visitor to the town, and according to an online CV began working as an English tutor.

His next long term relationship was with Rohey Hydara, 39, with whom he shared a series of short-term homes in London and Luton.

Last night, the Met said Masood's partner Rohey Hydara, 39, was released on bail pending further inquiries. She was arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

After his release from prison, he became estranged from his Christian mother Janet, now 69, who moved to rural Wales to build a new life away from her oldest son.

Mr and Mrs Ajao now live in a 200-year- old detached house in a remote area of Carmarthenshire where they rear chickens and pedigree sheep and Mrs Ajao sells hand- crafted cushions, handbags and blankets through her textile business, Folksy.

Their home was searched by police after the Westminster attack although police said the couple were not suspects and had not been arrested.

Neighbours said the pair were visited by their two sons Paul, 50, and Alexander, 40, but said they appeared to be estranged from Masood.

Mr Ajao is said to be seriously ill, and Masood told a hotel receptionist in Brighton he was dying from cancer, just hours before carrying out the Westminster attack.

Masood's siblings have gone on to very different careers.