HOW DID THEY MISS THIS MONSTER?
Families of knife victims condemn security ‘shambles’ for leaving crazed jihadi free to kill
RELATIVES of two Cambridge graduates who were killed by a convicted terrorist lambasted the security services last night for ‘shambolic’ blunders which contributed to the atrocity.
At the climax of a dramatic inquest into the attack at Fishmongers’ Hall in central London, a jury ruled that MI5, the police and the probation service were all at fault.
Jurors concluded that ‘missed opportunities’ by the agencies contributed to the killing of Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, by jihadi Usman Khan.
They highlighted the ‘serious deficiencies’ and ‘unacceptable management’ of the team responsible for monitoring Khan, 28, after his release from prison for a previous terror offence.
The jury said there was a ‘blind spot to Khan’s unique risk’ because of his ‘poster boy image’ for prison rehabilitation.
These failings meant police and probation officers believed he was a reformed character – even though there were at least 40 warning signs that he craved martyrdom.
Last night Jack’s parents David and Anne, both 56, said the way Khan was
‘Walking around with their eyes closed’
monitored was a ‘shambles’ and ‘totally dysfunctional’. The couple still cannot fathom why one of the UK’s most dangerous terrorism inmates was allowed to travel 150 miles without a police escort to a prisoner rehabilitation conference in London within a year of his release.
It left Khan free to tape a knife to each hand and kill two and injure three others at the event. He was shot dead by police minutes later on London Bridge.
In an interview with the Mail, Mr Merritt said: ‘Ultimately it’s the Government’s responsibility – it’s the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office who dropped the ball.
‘They had six years to decide what to do with Khan before he left prison and they messed it up. They just threw him into a haphazard system, which wasn’t designed for terrorist offenders.’
In a stinging attack, Saskia’s uncle Philip Jones added: ‘It is beyond understanding and astonishing that not one of the state agencies sufficiently considered the associated risk and therefore questioned the wisdom of sending Usman Khan unaccompanied to London.’
The jurors were directed by Coroner Mark Lucraft QC to conclude that Mr Merritt and Miss Jones were unlawfully killed by Khan. They concluded their verdict by expressing ‘heartfelt condolences’.
Khan was released from a maximum security jail in December 2018 after serving eight years for being part of a terror cell plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange.
He had to wear an electronic tag and was supposed to be monitored by a multi-agency public protection arrangement (Mappa), made up of prison, probation and police officers.
Mappa knew that Khan had spent his entire jail term trying to radicalise, bully and forcibly convert other prisoners.
But astonishingly, officials believed he had changed his ways and sanctioned his trip to London. MI5, which had evidence of Khan’s desire for jihad, and the police both chose not to send an escort.
Speaking from Jack’s family home in the village of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, his mother told the Mail: ‘The whole Mappa process was totally dysfunctional.
‘It’s life or death that they get these things right. It is catastrophic if that goes wrong. It is unforgivable.’
Mrs Merritt added: ‘There’s no question in our minds that he was anything other than just as dangerous when he came out of prison.’
Mr Merritt said: ‘Everybody seems to have been walking around with their eyes closed and not seeing what they didn’t want to see. Mappa was a shambles. It was badly run. They didn’t know what they were dealing with.’
Mr Merritt said there remains troubling questions as to why intelligence gathered by MI5 about Khan’s desire for an atrocity was not widely shared.
Despite the attack, they continue to support the rehabilitation ideals of Learning Together and reject the idea of longer prison sentences for terrorism offenders.
Last night Scotland Yard apologised for the failings of various state agencies.
Assistant commissioner Neil Basu said: ‘The fact there were omissions or failures in the management of the attacker and in the sharing of information and guidance by the agencies responsible is simply unacceptable and I’m so deeply sorry we weren’t better at this in November 2019.’