Attacker’s car hit 76mph – and cycle lane may have helped him

DERANGED knifeman Khalid Masood ploughed into his victims at up to 76mph, it was revealed last night.

Police believe he may have reached the astonishing speed after they examined frame-byframe footage of the atrocity on Westminster Bridge.

There are fears that changes to the road layout across Westminster Bridge – including adding a cycle lane – may have unwittingly aided his assault.

Police have already revealed that just 82 seconds passed between the rented Hyundai striking the first victim and the Muslim convert being shot dead.

Now a frame-by-frame examination of CCTV footage has indicated he reached motorway speeds in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament. Cameras which automatically register the number plates of vehicles as they pass are believed to show Masood made several passes of the area before he executed his lethal mission on Wednesday afternoon.

Masood’s actions claimed four victims – PC Keith Palmer, Londoner Leslie Rhodes, 75, US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and mother-of-two Aysha Frade, 43.

A former Government anti-terror adviser said Masood had ‘uninterrupted’ access to the pavement and called for a review of the traffic arrangements.

Crossbench peer Lord Carlile said the cycle lane gave Masood a ‘free run’, adding the vehicle ‘straddled both [the cycle lane and the pavement] – mowing people down as it went’. He added: ‘We may have to look at the new traffic arrangements around Westminster.

‘They have opened up a large, wide, cycle lane, along which this vehicle travelled uninterrupted.’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan refused to comment on Lord Carlile’s comments, but mayoral candidate Christian Wolmar described them as an example of ‘extraordinary hostility to cyclists’. Transport for London refused to comment.

Armed police stood guard yesterday as the gates at the entrance to Parliament were reopened. The Carriage Gates, through which Masood entered, were manned by five unarmed officers, with several armed patrols behind them.