Surveillance of London Bridge attacker ‘halted at busy times’
A SPY chief yesterday denied MI5 was “seriously unwise” to consider closing an investigation into one of the London Bridge attackers just weeks before his murderous rampage.
The security services were monitoring Khuram Butt from mid-2015 until the point when he and two accomplices killed eight people on June 3 2017.
He was the subject of “extensive coverage” by a covert surveillance team, but their work was twice suspended due to an unprecedented wave of terror plots, the Old Bailey heard.
The first pause in the investigation was in February 2016 following a spate of attacks in mainland Europe. The second, from March-may 2017 was in the wake of the Westminster Bridge attack.
Speaking anonymously at the inquests into the deaths of eight victims, a senior MI5 officer, known as Witness L, said the latter had been justified due to “the unprecedented level of threat … [and] pressure on our resources”.
Days earlier, Butt, 27, was seen with a group of men, possibly including his two co-conspirators, in what was seen as a “potentially significant” development. It was later found they may have been attempting to obtain a firearm.
Jonathan Hough QC, counsel to the inquests, asked if it was not troubling that the inquiry had been suspended.
Witness L replied: “We clearly needed to devote our resources to … even more significant threats.”
By mid-may 2017, a closure plan was drawn up after no intelligence was uncovered that Butt was planning an attack. Mr Hough suggested that course of action had been “seriously unwise”.
The MI5 officer replied: “He had been subject to a considerable degree of investigation … We cannot keep investigations open forever just to see whether something turns up.”