Fishmongers Hall terrorist was a ‘low’ risk of reoffending

Fishmongers’ Hall terror attacker Usman Khan was known to have discussed harming another prisoner for being a ‘snitch’ months before his release from jail, an inquest heard.

The convicted jihadi, 28, was still on license and deemed ‘high-risk’ by authorities when he targeted a prison rehabilitation event at the City of London venue on 29 November 2019.

Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were killed and three others were left seriously injured in the atrocity.

Secretly armed with three knives and a fake suicide vest, the extremist pretended to be reformed in order to get permission to travel up to London from Stafford for the conference.

The inquest heard today (tues) how Khan would involve himself heavily in violence behind bars and then downplay the events to manipulate his probation officer.

He ‘headed’ extremist bullying and in March 2017 was seen standing outside a cell while other inmates piled, overseeing an attack on another prisoner, jurors heard.

Giving evidence Ken Skelton, Khan’s probation officer from May 2017 onwards, said the terrorist had told him he was ‘just standing there’ and ‘wasn’t particularly involved.’

On another occasion when he shouted during the minute’s silence on Armistice Day, he claimed he ‘wasn’t too loud’ and ‘had been on a phone cal,’ the inquest heard.

Jonathan Hough, QC, counsel to the inquests, questioned whether the lies were yet another example of the terrorist manipulating and deceiving the authorities to ‘avoid scrutiny.’

Khan was considered an ’emir’ – a senior member of terrorist gangs on his prison ward who would intimidate others into extremism, jurors have heard.

Further ‘very concerning’ intelligence came to light in July 2018, when it emerged that Khan had been discussing attacking another inmate who he deemed a ‘snitch,’ the inquest heard.

‘There was intelligence of Khan and another prisoner talking, suggesting they may want to harm him as a snitch,’ Mr Hough said.

‘So there remains some very concerning intelligence.’

‘There does,’ Mr Skelton said.

Mr Skelton, who became a probation officer in 1991, told jurors he had expressed an interest in wanting to work with terrorism offenders specifically and had undergone training for the role.

The officer said there was a difficulty in balancing Khan’s apparent interest in learning and creative writing with his license conditions which banned him from using a computer.

Learning Together, the Cambridge University-affiliated scheme which ran the event Khan targeted, seemed like a positive way of getting Khan to pursue new hobbies and relationships, Mr Skelton said.

Jurors heard Khan would frequently phone the organisation and seemed to enjoy his interactions with those working on the scheme – one of whom was Mr Merritt, the course co-ordinator.

But when Mr Skelton visited Khan on 2 January 2019, Khan again sought to downplay his offending by claiming he ‘didn’t realise’ what he was involved in and ‘wasn’t a practicing Muslim.’

The officer said he still described the session as ‘good, open and honest’ in his notes because Khan was at least engaging with him.

‘Why did you write good, open and honest session when he was denying something he had previously admitted?’ asked Mr Hough.

‘Because… It was open in terms of he was talking openly as far as I was aware and he engaged in terms of myself and it was a positive session in that respect.

‘In terms of minimising it that was still something I had in the back of mind and didn’t disregard,’ Mr Skelton said.

Khan’s lies were just one of numerous hurdles faced by those trying to rehabilitate him.

Months later on 13 June, Mr Skelton had to urge Khan to start applying for more ‘realistic’ jobs when it emerged he had been seeking employment at ‘manager’ level.

‘There was some concern that he was applying for unrealistic jobs for example manager grades… He tends to leave some jobs in the basket without completing them.

‘He was setting his sights too high with regards to job application,’ Mr Hough said.

‘It wasn’t so much a concern, it was that he was applying for these jobs without much of a chance of getting them… I spoke to him and said look you’re having difficulty identifying employment, you need to start looking at something that’s more appropriate.’

The officer told Khan that he would be more likely to get manual work, but the terrorist came back asking for permission to go on a ‘dumper truck’ training course which posed a risk.

Members on the Multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa) agreed that there had been reports of vans being used in terrorist attacks and it would not be appropriate, jurors heard.

‘Around that particular time there had been an incident with a van and I think that raised concern,’ Mr Skelton said.

Concerns were raised months before the attack that Khan was likely to ‘vent’ his frustrations if he was denied privileges he felt entitled to after prison, the inquest heard.

Jurors heard the terrorist was described as ‘self-entitled’ and needing ‘others being there to do everything for him’ at a Mappa panel meeting in August 2019.

Khan had been a senior member of a terrorist gang behind bars and felt he deserved the same high status on the outside world, the inquest was told.

He would apply for ‘unrealistic’ managerial roles in his job searches despite being told to try for more appropriate work, jurors heard.

After his release from jail, Khan also asked authorities whether he could ‘give up his British nationality,’ the inquest heard.

Reading from the minutes of the August session, Mr Hough said: ‘Jamie Edwards notes Usman khan presents as self-entitled, whether he’s ready for the reality of having to stand on his own feet in the absence of others being there to do everything for him.

‘This elevates concern in relation to Usman Khan becoming frustrated by blocks and this frustration will likely be vented.’

Addressing Mr Skelton, Mr Hough asked: ‘So is it right that in August 2019 the panel remained concerned about potentially negative events triggering a response?’

‘Yes, that wasn’t just in August I think that’s something everyone was considering had got a sense, I was considering and it was something that was in everybody’s mind with how it was at that point we needed to manage this individual.’

But despite lingering concerns, an Extremism Risk Guidelines (ERG) report filed just weeks before the attack downgraded Khan’s risk of offending to ‘low.’

Asked whether Khan showed any red flags, Mr Skelton said: ‘There was nothing glaring that would suggest there as an issue… From where I was at that particular time, having had conversations with other people there was nothing to suggest that things weren’t out of the ordinary.’

Jurors heard how Khan’s family had arranged a marriage for him in Pakistan during his rehabilitation and that he had asked about renouncing his UK citizenship.

‘Were you not concerned that that was something he was asking about?’ Mr Hough asked.

‘No,’ Mr Skelton replied.

The officer added: ‘His family were saying they were looking at arranging a marriage. I spoke to him about that he said thats what his family had said and that in time he wanted to settle down.’

Khan was deemed genuinely interested the prison rehabilitation scheme which he targeted despite ignoring work activities they assigned him for months before the attack, the inquest heard.

The convicted jihadi launched his deadly rampage at an event held by the programme, Learning Together, at Fishmongers’ Hall.

The scheme had been in regular contact with him and there were even discussions of Khan starting education at Cambridge University, jurors heard.

He killed course co-ordinator Jack Merritt, 25, and volunteer Saskia Jones, 23, and left three others seriously injured at an anniversary celebration for the organisation on 29 November 2019.

Learning Together gave the terrorist a Chrome book to help him complete learning assignments as part of the programme, jurors heard.

But after seven months it transpired that he had failed to hand in any educational projects despite his claims that he was interested in creative writing.

‘I at that point genuinely believed he was working with them because he got a little bit of a sense of self worth if you like, in terms of he was doing something and achieving something but not necessarily the status thing, no,’ Mr Skelton said.

He added: ‘In terms of him not doing the work on the Chrome book he hasn’t done I suppose what was expected of him but it was I suppose work in progress.’

Mr Skelton had a ‘high caseload’ when he was tasked with managing Khan and two other terrorist offenders, one of whom was Khan’s co-defendant, jurors heard.

He first began supervising extremists in 2017 – a year before dealing with high-risk Khan, the inquest heard.

‘I’d got quite a high caseload at the time and I’d got these three individuals who, you know, I’d not managed terrorist offenders previously.

‘I felt my management of other individuals had put me in good stead to manage these offenders in the community,’ Mr Skelton said.

Jo Bolton, who worked with Khan in prison, was also new to the job, as was Khan’s counter-terrorism officer Sumeet Johal, who qualified in December 2018.

Calum Forsyth, of Staffordshire Police’s Prevent team, had also only recently started counter-terrorism work, jurors heard.

Nick Armstrong, representing Mr Merritt’s family, asked whether Mr Skelton felt he had enough support offered to him for dealing with such a high-risk offender.

The officer actively sought to undertake further training prior to being assigned Khan’s case, but did not receive it, the inquest heard.

He was left to make his own efforts to ‘professionally develop’ himself by attending conferences and taking up other training that was available, jurors heard.

‘[I’m asking] whether you felt that you needed some support or more than you had, but you seem to be saying you felt confidant doing this… How was it for you?’ Mr Armstrong asked.

‘[It was] a learning curve, in as much as as you rightly point out I had undertaken my training with the ERG and HII in 2013, 2014. I had tried to take up previous ERG training prior to managing Usman Khan but never had the opportunity,’ Mr Skelton said.

‘I tried as much as possible to engage with other training if you like, going to conferences and I suppose professionally develop myself in that area but it was all new to me. It was different to what I’d been used to.’

Khan was hailed as a ‘success story’ by Learning Together, making it difficult for probation services to counter that image, jurors heard.

‘I see this as being a challenge,’ Mr Armstrong said.

‘Khan is at least coming to you looking like a positive story… We have heard quite a lot of the language of transformation that Learning Together talked about and I think you heard quite a lot of that language.’

‘Yes,’ Mr Skelton said.

‘(The report) is using words like “vast improvement”… A couple of pages later that becomes “complete turnaround”,’ Mr Armstrong said.

‘Yes… It did seem to follow on from what they were saying in the prison environment before he came, to when he came into the community it did seem to continue and the momentum built up,’ Mr Skelton replied.

‘It would have been difficult to say “well that’s it.”‘

The inquest continues.