MI5 and Yard: We had him – and let him go
Shocking admission that 2 years before London Bridge jihadi maniac went on rampage. . .
police and Mi5 probed one of the london Bridge terrorists two years before his murderous rampage.
Khuram Butt, 27, was flagged up because of his extremist views and his case was examined by Scotland Yard and the security services.
A call was later made to the antiterror hotline, warning of Butt’s increasingly extremist behaviour.
But officials downgraded the investigation because they did not suspect the married father of two was planning an attack.
The admission came amid growing evidence that the security services missed a string of opportunities to stop Saturday night’s atrocity. The Mail revealed yesterday that Butt, whose family came to Britain from Pakistan as refugees, featured on a Channel 4 documentary about UK jihadis last year. In one scene, he was even filmed being spoken to by a police officer.
He was also an associate of Anjem Choudary – barracking opponents of the now jailed hate preacher – and neighbours said they had raised concerns about him.
Butt was identified last night as one of the three London Bridge attackers along with Rachid Redouane, 30.
Police said Redouane claimed to be Moroccan-Libyan but was carrying an Irish identity card when he was shot dead by officers during Saturday’s rampage that left seven dead.
Detectives admit they are not completely sure about his true identity because he was also known as Rachid El-khdar and used two dates of birth.
Redouane’s British wife Charisse O’Leary, 38, was among seven women detained by police in the aftermath of the attacks. As questions were being asked about whether the counterterror strategy is working:
It emerged that Butt tried to convert children near his London home;
Petrol bombs were reportedly found in the terror gang’s van;
James McMullan, a 32-year-old web developer, was the second victim of the attack to be named;
Google refused to remove YouTube
‘Radicalised by hate preachers’
rants by two hate preachers who inspired Butt;
Jeremy Corbyn called for Theresa May to resign over police cuts;
Security barriers were installed on three London bridges.
Mark Rowley, the UK’s most senior counterterrorism officer, said Butt came under investigation by police and MI5 in 2015. He said as this progressed a member of the public called the anti-terrorism hotline and reported Butt’s increasingly extremist behaviour.
But over the following months investigators could find no evidence of ‘attack planning’ and he was downgraded as a priority.
By Saturday night Butt was among the ‘lower echelons’ of the 3,000 suspected extremists identified by the security services.
‘The investigation started in 2015, in the summer of 2015, and a few months later we received a call into the anti-terrorism hotline,’ said the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner. ‘This was from a member of the public referring to signs of extremism and radicalisation.
‘That was referred to the investigation. All the work has never provided any evidence or intelligence of attack planning or other serious offences. As a consequence, as time went on, priorities moved on and it was in the lower echelons of investigations.’
Asked if police and MI5 were at fault, Mr Rowley added: ‘In the work looking backwards that we have done so far I have not seen anything that shows a poor decision has been made.
‘Of course we will probably discover information in covert communications that if we had known about it would have changed our judgment. But I am not aware of having anything in our hands that makes these the wrong decisions.’
Mr Rowley said police were still working to confirm the identity of the third terrorist involved in Saturday night’s attack.
Butt turned to terror after being radicalised by hate preachers. He lived off benefits and drifted in and out of jobs including a stint on the London Underground. Near his home in Barking, East London, he would try to lure schoolchildren into his dark world by offering sweets and cash and lecturing them on Allah.
Shocked parents reported him to police for defending the Lee Rigby and Charlie Hebdo attacks and ‘brainwashing’ their children who came home asking: ‘Mummy, can we become Mus- lims?’ In 2015, Butt prepared to abandon his pregnant wife Zahrah to wage jihad in Syria, according to a relative, who said: ‘He once said I was a non-believer because I chose not to keep a beard. He refused to shake my hand.’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick yesterday vowed that officers would ‘step up a gear’ in the wake of the London Bridge terror attacks. She described the police response as extraordinary and praised an off-duty officer who fought the three knifemen with his bare hands when they rampaged through Borough Market.
Two addresses in East London were searched by police in dramatic early morning raids yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said officers entered homes in Newham and Barking at 4.15am.
All the remaining ten people arrested by officers investigating the attack have been released without charge.
Sources said that due to limited resources, MI5 had to prioritise monitoring those jihadists known to have attack plans.
In Butt’s case, although he was known to the security services there was no suggestion that an atrocity was being planned. Where MI5 knows an attack is being planned, it steps in, but the unsophisticated nature of the latest outrages is making it increasingly difficult to pick them up.
Butt once worked for a man accused of helping train the 7/7 bomb gang, according to the Times. He was an attendant at an all-Muslim gym in East London run by Sajeel Shahid, 41, a member of Choudary’s network who allegedly helped to set up weapons training in Pakistan for the bombers who killed 52 people in July 2005.
Redouane was a pastry chef who also lived in Barking. Because of his alleged links to Libya, police are expected to examine whether he had any dealings with those involved in the Manchester Arena atrocity, in particular suicide bomber Salman Abedi.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was last night questioned about his views on terrorism and his faith during a BBC Question Time leaders debate. He was asked: ‘We’re under attack. If properly controlled, why is internet surveillance not a good thing? It can save lives.’
Mr Farron said in response that the real cause of terrorist attacks was a lack of resources, rather than a lack of surveillance: ‘We have the powers to follow and track criminals ... what we don’t have is sufficient pairs of eyes and pairs of hands in our security services and our police forces.’