I’VE SHED MANY TEARS FOR VICTIMS
Westminster killer’s mother ‘shocked and saddened’ by his actions
THE mother of the Westminster terrorist condemned the atrocity last night as she revealed she has ‘shed many tears’ for the victims.
Janet Ajao, 69, said she was ‘deeply shocked’ after learning her son Khalid Masood was responsible for murdering four people.
The mother of three spoke out five days after the Muslim convert drove his rented car at speeds of up to 76mph into crowds outside Parliament and stabbed a policeman to death.
‘I am so deeply shocked, saddened and numbed by the actions my son has taken that have killed and injured innocent people in Westminster,’ she said.
‘Since discovering that it was my son that was responsible I have shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrendous incident.
‘I wish to make it absolutely clear, so there can be no doubt, I do not condone his actions nor support the beliefs he held that led to him committing this atrocity.’
The former Marks & Spencer employee has barely left her remote west Wales farmhouse, where she runs an online business selling handmade cushions, since the attack.
Her husband Phillip, 79, a retired farmer originally from Nigeria, is seriously ill in hospital and her property has been searched by counter-terrorism police.
Neighbours said she was estranged from Masood, born Adrian Elms and raised as a Christian in the Home Counties, and had not seen him for 15 years.
‘I wish to thank my friends, family and community from the bottom of my heart for the love and support given to us,’ Mrs Ajao added.
Her comments came as police chiefs said Masood, 52, may have copied Islamic State techniques but there is no evidence he was in contact with the terror group.
A senior Scotland Yard officer said they had found no links to a wider network which may have encouraged or supported him. Confirming he acted as a ‘lone wolf’, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said Masood was not a ‘subject of interest’ to the security services.
‘His attack method appears to be based on low-sophistication, low-tech, low-cost techniques copied from other attacks, and echo the rhetoric of IS leaders in terms of methodology and attacking police and civilians, but at this stage I have no evidence he discussed this with others,’ he said.
Mr Basu appealed to anyone who has been in contact with Masood in the weeks before the attack to contact his officers.
He said: ‘I know when, where and how Masood committed his atrocities, but now I
need to know why. Most importantly, so do the victims and families.’ Security services are working around the clock to unravel the Masood’s connections to banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun.
The fanatic lived in Luton – long known as a hotbed of terror – at a time when acolytes of hate preacher Anjem Choudary urged supporters to commit jihad. Masood was teaching English as a foreign language just yards from where Al-Muhajiroun distributed extremist literature from stalls on the pavement.
The Westminster killer is thought to have come on to the radar of MI5 when they investigated a plot to blow up an Army base using a remote-controlled car. He lived several hundred yards from one of the ringleaders of the plot.
He was investigated by the security services for links to ‘violent extremism’, but it was decided he did not pose a threat.
Last night, police said Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox will open inquests into the deaths tomorrow afternoon. A separate hearing will take place for Masood on Thursday.