Fishmongers’ Hall attacker deemed ‘high risk’ year before assault

There was intelligence that Usman Khan “might commit an attack” when released from prison a year before his deadly terror assault at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall, an inquest has heard.

Khan, a convicted terrorist who had been released on licence when he stabbed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones at a prisoner rehabilitation event in November 2019, was known in prison as “High Risk Khan”, the inquest into their deaths was told on Thursday.

Jonathan Hough QC, counsel to the inquest, also revealed that Khan was suspected of trying radicalise other inmates before his release in December 2018 from Whitemoor prison, where he had served time for planning a jihadist training camp.

The Rev Paul Foster, chaplain at the prison, accepted that he may have been “conned” by the inmate when he reported that Khan had shown remorse during a six-week victims awareness course at the end of 2018.

Hough asked Foster: “Would it surprise you to hear that at the time of his [Khan’s] release, there was intelligence about him indicating that he intended to return to extremism once released, and even that he might commit an attack?

He added: “Would it have surprised you that, around the time Usman Khan was ... engaged in victim awareness, there was intelligence he was trying to radicalise other prisoners?”

Foster replied: “If that intelligence is correct, then he was obviously presenting himself in a way in which was set to deceive the likes of me and others.”

In a report on the course that he ran, Foster said Khan “eventually engaged extremely well with his offence of terrorism”. Foster confirmed to the inquest that Khan “appeared to show remorse for what he’d done”. He added: “He had conversations with me about wanting to change and make a fresh start – to pay more attention to the ripple effect of his actions.”

Nick Armstrong, QC, counsel for Merritt’s family, pointed out to Foster that in April 2018, there was a 64-page report into Khan, which “concluded that he had not reduced his risk”.

Foster said: “I’m quite open to say that it is possible for me to have been conned.”

Amy Ludlow, co-founder of Learning Together, the organisation hosting the event at the hall, confirmed she was aware Khan had been regarded as high-risk category A prisoner before she invited him to attend the event.

She told the inquest: “People used to call him ‘High Risk Khan’. He didn’t hide the fact of his conviction or his high-risk status.”

The inquest was told that there were only 70 of prisoners in the country, or 0.1% judged this dangerous.

Ludlow said the probation service had given permission for Khan to attend the event. She said: “I was content that Usman Khan had permission to attend without any restrictions and without any warning given to me.”

She also defended Khan’s invitation to Fishmongers’ Hall and the support Learning had provided him in trying to find a job. She said: “It is about the cultivation of hope and possibility. We know from research that that’s really important to supporting processes of moving away from crime.”

Ludlow confirmed that Khan attended a previous Learning Together event in 2019 accompanied by two police officers. She said she assumed restrictions had been eased by the time of the attack because of the “very rosy” assessments of Khan by the probation service.

The inquest was told that before his release Khan wrote an essay about radicalisation in modern Europe after attending a creative writing course in prison run by Learning Together.

Hough said: “Parts of this essay might appear to be an explanation or even a justification for radicalism.”

Ludlow said: “I don’t have that concern. I think there is some balance and some commitment to the prevention of those things.”

Hough asked: “Would you have been concerned to be told that Usman Khan had a history in the prison intelligence linking him to violent incidents, bullying, serious disruption, and radicalism, including forced conversions?”

Ludlow replied: “I trusted it was fed into the risk assessment processes.”

The inquests, at the Guildhall in the City of London, continue.