LONDON – Failings by MI5 and the police contributed to the deaths of two graduates who were killed by a convicted terrorist, a jury has found.
University of Cambridge alumni Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt were stabbed by Usman Khan at a rehabilitation event at Fishmongers’ Hall in November 2019.
Khan, 28, had been released from prison 11 months previously, the inquests at London’s Guildhall heard.
The jury concluded that both victims had been unlawfully killed.
Khan, who spent eight years in jail for planning to set up a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, was chased on to London Bridge by people at the event who were armed with a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk plucked from a wall.
The terrorist, who wounded three others in the attack, was shot dead on the bridge by police.
Jurors found there had been unacceptable management and a lack of accountability in the oversight of Khan, from Stafford, who had been allowed to travel on his own to London.
They concluded there had been failures in the sharing of information between state agencies responsible for monitoring the convicted terrorist.
Deficiencies in the organisation of the event at Fishmongers’ Hall, including inadequate security measures, were also found to have been a factor in the deaths.
(BBC)
