The Al Qaeda Islamist fanatic from Stoke caught plotting Mumbai-style terror attack on London

The Al Qaeda fanatic who yesterday stabbed two people to death in a terrorist attack on London Bridge was previously caught plotting a Mumbai-style attack on London that included assassinating Boris Johnson. 

Usman Khan, 28, born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed in 2012 along with nine other gang members for plotting to assassinate Boris Johnson – then mayor of London – bomb the London Stock Exchange on Christmas, and carry out Mumbai-style attacks (which saw terrorists reign the city for four days).

Khan, who previously boasted about his ‘jobseeker’s allowance’ while plotting other terror attacks, killed a man and a woman in the knife rampage on Friday afternoon and injured three other people, who are being treated in hospital.

He was attending a conference on prisoner rehabilitation organised by University of Cambridge-associated Learning Together at Fishmongers’ Hall and ‘threatened to blow up’ the building just before 2pm.

Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, Khan was tackled by members of the public – including one with a narwhal tusk – before he was shot dead by police on London Bridge.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said he had been living in the Staffordshire area and officers are searching an address in the county. 

Khan and his gang members, Mohammed Shahjahan, Nazam Hussein, Mohibur Rahman, Mohammed Chowdhury, Abdul Miah, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Omar Sharif Latif were caught by police and arrested in 2010. 

The criminals also planned to start a terrorist training camp in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir using land owned by Khan’s family.

A court was told that Khan and Hussain planned to travel to the camp and receive military instruction themselves before ‘obtaining first-hand terrorist experience in Kashmir’.

The then 20-year-old pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct for the preparation of terrorism, which included travelling to and attending operational meetings, fundraising for terrorist training, preparing to travel abroad and assisting others in travelling abroad. 

He and his other gang members had worked for Islam4UK – a terrorist organisation that was run by Anjem Choudary until UK’s counter terrorism laws proscribed it on 14 January 2010.  

In February 2012, Khan was handed an indeterminate sentence for public protection over his part in the terror plots, which also included plans to bomb the addresses of two rabbis, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and the American Embassy. 

But the sentence for Khan, along with two co-conspirators, was quashed at the Court of Appeal in April 2013 and he was given a determinate 16-year jail term.

Prisoners are usually released halfway through a determinate sentence but Khan had served less than seven years when he was freed on licence in December last year.

The Parole Board said it had no involvement in his release and that Khan ‘appears to have been released automatically on licence (as required by law), without ever being referred to the board’. 

Khan was released on licence in December 2018 and was still wearing a monitoring tag at the time of yesterday’s attack.  

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, opening the Crown’s case at the start of a three-day sentencing hearing on February 6, 2012, said: ‘These defendants had in overview decided that ultimately they would be responsible for very serious acts of terrorism.

‘What was observed during the indictment period was planning for the immediate future, not involving suicide attacks, so that there would be a long-term future which would include further acts of terrorism.’

Khan, then aged 20, was secretly recorded talking about plans to recruit UK radicals to attend a training camp in Kashmir.

He said there were only three possible outcomes for him and his fellow jihadists: victory, martyrdom or prison.

Khan’s then home in Persia Walk, Stoke-on-Trent, was bugged as he discussed plans for the firearms training camp, which was to be disguised as a legitimate madrassa, an Islamic religious school, the court heard.

Discussing terrorist fundraising, he boasted that Muslims in Britain could earn in a day what people in Kashmir, a disputed region divided between Pakistan and India, are paid in a month.

He went on: ‘On jobseeker’s allowance we can earn that, never mind working for that.’

Khan said he could only see three results: ‘There’s victory, what we hope for, there’s shahada (death as martyrs), or there’s prison.’

Passing sentence, the judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, said this was a ‘serious, long-term venture in terrorism’ that could also have resulted in atrocities in Britain.

He said: ‘It was envisaged by them all that ultimately they and the other recruits may return to the UK as trained and experienced terrorists available to perform terrorist attacks in this country, on one possibility contemplated in the context of the return of British troops from Afghanistan.’

He added that Khan and two others appeared to be the more ‘serious jihadists’ of the group. 

During the sentence appeal hearing, Lord Justice Leveson said: ‘There is no doubt that anyone convicted of this type of offence could legitimately be considered dangerous.

‘There is an argument for concluding that anyone convicted of such an offence should be incentivised to demonstrate that he can safely be released; such a decision is then better left to the Parole Board for consideration proximate in time to the date when release becomes possible.’ 

A blue forensic tent and two blue screens were in front of Usman Khan’s home in Wolverhampton Road in Stafford today.

A cordon is also across the front of the red brick block which has been described by locals as a bail hostel for offenders.

Plain-clothes officers wearing blue gloves have been coming and going and uniformed officers are standing outside. 

The former landlady of Usman Khan has told how she was shaking when she heard the news that he had killed two people in a terrorist attack on London Bridge.

In 2009, the 44-year-old inadvertently rented her home to the terrorist, which he used as a base while he hatched a plot with nine other extremists to attack the London Stock Exchange and set up a terror training camp.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, told MailOnline she was due to travel to Egypt, where her daughters were studying, when she was asked if she could help house a young couple in the community.

But she ended up renting the home in Persia Walk, Stoke-on-Trent to Usman Khan, 28.

‘A woman, who said she was his wife, came to see me and I gave her the key,’ said the mother-of-five. ‘I only saw her once. She said they were a newly married couple, so that’s why we rented to them, that’s why we were comfortable. We wanted to help. We didn’t charge too much rent.’

Less than a year later, the landlady returned to Stoke-on-Trent and stayed with her father-in-law when she heard the news that the police had raided her home and arrested her tenant on suspicion of terror offences.

Her house had been badly damaged by the police raid and subsequent search, which emptied it of much of its contents.

She was shocked then, but is now sickened to hear that Khan has been allowed to perform an act of terrorism, even though he had been caught and locked up.

‘My body was shaking as soon as I heard the news,’ she said, speaking on the doorstep of her modest family flat in the Tunstall area of the city. ‘Why did they release him? He should be in prison. It’s horrible.’

Neighbours in Persia Walk are also angry and confused as to why Khan was allowed out to kill.

Gill Lewis, 72, said: ‘I thought he would still have been in prison. I was shocked when I saw who it was. I just didn’t think he would be out. If people still have those ideas in their mind, they are going to do it.’

Gill, who has lived in the street for 46 years, said Khan appeared to live alone in the house next door back in 2009/10, but he had a lot of visitors and she could hear them talking late into the night. Often they would leave at six in the morning.

She added: ‘I feel very sorry for the families of those who have been killed. It should not have happened.’

Neighbours say Khan never spoke to anyone in the street. He was often on his mobile phone with his hood pulled down low.

Another neighbour, who has clocked up 40 years on Persia Walk, said: ‘I think it’s disgusting he was let out.’

‘I thought he was in prison forever,’ said the woman, aged 70, who did not want to be named. ‘I thought that was the end of it. I had no idea he was freed.’ 

Local Colette Darcy, 50, BMW worker, said: ‘The takeaway man told me there were police there yesterday evening.

‘It was probably 5.30pm and I looke out to see a cordon there. I didn’t know it was that. Nothing really happens in Stafford. It’s a bit scary being so close.’ 

Matt Caddock, 39, a garage worker, said: ‘I’ve never seen him before unless his appearance has changed.

‘The place is full of ex-offenders but there’s never been problems before.’

Anna Kordon, 42, a factory worker, said: ‘I don’t know him.

‘I saw the police guarding the door when I went out at 6am this morning. I didn’t know what it was about but I’m scared now.’  

Retired police officer Justin Lightfoot, who lives in a nearby street, said he instantly recognised Khan when a friend showed him a mugshot of the 28-year-old in a media report on Saturday morning.

Mr Lightfoot, who runs a gardening business, said he had never seen Khan, who was wearing Western clothing, carrying anything or walking with anyone else.

The local resident said: ‘The only thing I’ve seen is him just walking past my house.

‘I’ve seen his picture this morning online and when I saw that obviously I recognised him. A friend showed me the picture and as soon as I saw it, I recognised him straight away.

‘It’s just frightening when somebody lives so close to you – you don’t know what’s going on so near to your home.’

Mr Lightfoot added: ‘I’ve seen him for probably the last three or four weeks. Whether he was there longer or not I don’t know.

‘When I came home from work last night I saw the police here between half four and five o’clock. There was a couple of police cars, a police car across the road.

‘I had this feeling it might be something to do with that (the London Bridge attack) and then when I heard it on the radio last night and it said Staffordshire and then Stafford… it’s just frightening.’

Other residents said they had seen police speaking to other residents of the three-story block of flats on Wolverhampton Road after officers sealed off the building.

Another resident, whose house overlooks the flats, said: ‘I’ve certainly seen police there before, but what for I’m not sure.

‘I haven’t seen the man who lived there for at least a week or so.’ 

It comes as: 

• Members of the public bravely tackled Usman Khan, disarming him after he had stabbed multiple people
• One hero used a fire extinguisher while another grabbed a 5ft Narwhal tusk off the wall of Fishmonger’s Hall
• A man who tackled the attacker was revealed to be a convicted murderer out on day release, it has emerged
• Another man was revealed to be a tour guide who stamped on Khan’s hand, forcing him to release a knife
• Khan was a member of nine-strong Al Qaeda-inspired gang plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange 
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has now called for an end to violent criminals being released early from prison 

The gang also carried out surveillance of other possible targets including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster and the London Eye.

The group planned to send five bombs in the post to London synagogues and the Church of Scientology headquarters, as well as spreading panic in Stoke-on-Trent by planting bombs in pub and club toilets.

Their plot was foiled after the security services bugging their homes and cars heard discussions of a ‘Mumbai’ atrocity on the streets of Britain, mirroring the guerrilla-style 2008 attack in India. 

Khan, then aged 20, was secretly recorded talking about plans to recruit UK radicals to attend a training camp in Kashmir. 

Khan’s then home in Persia Walk, Stoke-on-Trent, was bugged as he discussed plans for the firearms training camp, which was to be disguised as a legitimate madrassa, an Islamic religious school, the court heard.

Discussing terrorist fundraising, he said Muslims in Britain could earn in a day what people in Kashmir, a disputed region divided between Pakistan and India, are paid in a month.

He went on: ‘On jobseeker’s allowance we can earn that, never mind working for that.’

Khan said he could only see three results: ‘There’s victory, what we hope for, there’s shahada (death as martyrs), or there’s prison.’

When first sentenced, Khan has handed an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) with a minimum term of eight years by Mr Justice Wilkie in February 2012. 

This was overturned by the Court of Appeal in April 2013, when the indeterminate sentence was quashed. Instead, he was handed 16 years in Jail with an extended licence period of five years. 

At the time he was jailed, Khan had spent 408 days on remand and this was taken into account when considering his release date. 

He was eligible for release after serving half of his 16-year jail term, less the time he had already spent on remand. 

Khan was obliged to adhere to the notification provisions of the 2008 Counter Terrorism Act for a total of 30 years. 

Speaking before chairing a meeting of the Government’s emergency committee Cobra on Friday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had ‘long argued’ that it is a ‘mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early and it is very important that we get out of that habit and that we enforce the appropriate sentences for dangerous criminals, especially for terrorists, that I think the public will want to see’. 

Meanwhile, a maintenance worker who witnessed the London Bridge knife attack claims he was told the assailant had been in prison for terrorism offences.

Jamie Bakhit, a 24-year-old from Purley, Croydon, said he spoke to one of the men who helped wrestle the knifeman to the ground after they were taken to the Salvation Army headquarters to be interviewed by police.

He told said: ‘The guy who was on top of him said he [the attacker] had been in prison for terrorism, apparently.

‘Some of the guys who were on top of him were ex-prisoners and they had all been in the Fishmongers’ Hall. The guy told me he was in prison with the attacker.’

The maintenance worker said he had just turned onto London Bridge and was heading southbound when he saw the four men tackle the attacker.

Mr Bakhit said: ‘As I got on the bridge armed police pulled in front of me. There were already four pedestrians on top of the guy on the floor. ‘One of them [pedestrians] was shouting ‘shoot him in the f***ing head’.

‘I’m still in my van at this point, trying to turn around. Then the police say ‘get out of the van’, so I had to leave it there.

‘I then saw them [police] shoot him three or four times.

‘I was in shock. I wanted to get away. Everyone was shouting run because he had something across his chest. It was crazy.’

Around six members of the public worked to disarm the attacker after he went on a rampage outside Bank station and Fishmongers’ Hall on the north side of the bridge, killing two. 

An unnamed hero, who was inside the conference hall, was said to have grabbed a five-inch narwhal tusk from the wall’ and went to confront the terrorist. 

Mr Johnson, called a meeting of the Government’s emergency committee Cobra on Friday evening and cancelled his General Election campaigning events on Saturday. The Lib Dems have also decided to temporarily suspend campaigning.

Several people were stabbed by the knifeman before he was stopped in his tracks on London Bridge, which was the scene of the bloody massacre in summer 2017 where eight people were killed and 48 seriously injured.

Scotland Yard said the incident started at nearby Fishmongers’ Hall, and that police had ‘bravely and professionally confronted the suspect’ within five minutes of being called.

Footage on social media showed one man being urged to move away by armed officers before the suspect was shot at point-blank range, as another bystander – understood to be a plain clothes officer – could be seen carrying a large knife from the scene.

Another video appeared to show a person on a stretcher, surrounded by emergency services staff and vehicles, being given CPR by responders following the attack.

The members of the public who intervened have been widely praised, with mayor of London Sadiq Khan hailing their ‘breathtaking heroism’.

Witnesses said the suspect appeared to be wearing a suicide vest but Neil Basu, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing, said the vest was a fake.

He said police were called at around 2pm on Friday to a stabbing ‘at a premises near London Bridge’.

After being shot, the suspect in Friday’s attack raised his arms towards his head before lying still. A second knife could be seen on the ground near his body.

Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu released an update on the ongoing investigation shortly after midnight. 

He said: ‘The investigation into the attack near London Bridge continues at a pace. 

‘Whilst we are still in the early stages of the investigation, at this time we are not actively seeking anyone else in relation to the attack.

‘However, we continue to make fast time enquiries to ensure that no other people were involved in this attack and that there is no outstanding threat to the public.

‘As I stated earlier, police were called at 13:58hrs to a stabbing at premises near to London Bridge, EC1. Emergency services attended, including officers from the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police.

‘A male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers and I can confirm that he died at the scene. ‘We are now in a position to confirm the identity of the suspect as 28-year-old Usman Khan (10.03.1991), who had been residing in the Staffordshire area. As a result, officers are, tonight, carrying out searches at an address in Staffordshire.

‘This individual was known to authorities, having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences. He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly, a key line of enquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack.

‘Tragically, two people – a man and a woman – were killed during the attack. Three others – a man and two women – were also injured and remain in hospital.

‘The circumstances, as we currently understand them, are that the attacker attended an event earlier on Friday afternoon at Fishmonger’s Hall called ‘Learning Together’. We believe that the attack began inside before he left the building and proceeded onto London Bridge, where he was detained and subsequently confronted and shot by armed officers.

‘Extensive cordons are likely to remain in place for some time and I would ask the public to continue to avoid the area.

‘Public safety is our top priority and we are enhancing police patrols in the City and across London.’   

The Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog said it has launched an investigation into the police shooting of the London Bridge attacker which is standard for such incidents.

Terrifying new footage shows moment hero bystanders armed with a fire extinguisher and a NARWHAL TUSK chase knife-wielding terrorist across London Bridge before he is sprayed with jets of water and grappled to the ground 

This is the moment that a brave bystander used a fire extinguisher to tackle a knifeman wielding two weapons on London Bridge this afternoon.

Two people were killed today and up to twelve were injured after the maniac pulled the knives on innocent people on the north side of London Bridge just before 2pm.

Video footage showed the attacker running across London Bridge clutching the weapons as a fearless member of the public trailed him.

The white-haired man then confronted the terrorist who turned to him, holding up the two knives, before being cornered by the group of civilians chasing after him.

Another man is also seen holding what is believed to be the tusk of a Narwhal whale, which he also jabs in the direction of the attacker. 

The man who was chasing the black-capped killer over the bridge then unleashed a powerful spray of water on him from the fire extinguisher. 

The terrorist was then bundled to the ground as other people waded in, while another man hurried away with his knife.

Another man was also seen pointing a large stick at the terrorist.

One witness at the scene said the stick had in fact been a Narwhal whale tusk and that the man had taken it from Fishmongers’ Hall and ran out with it after learning of the incident.

The attacker, who has not yet been identified by police was thought to have had one of the two knives strapped to his arm and had also been wearing a fake explosives device, which was strapped around his waist. 

It is believed he was a convicted terrorist who had served time in prison and was wearing an electronic tag, according to The Times newspaper. The paper added he was attending a Cambridge University conference on prisoner rehabilitation being held at Fishmongers’ Hall and ‘threatened to blow up’ the building.

Speaking to MailOnline, one witness said more shots had been fired after the terrorist was shot.

Deborah Simmons had been attending a hospital appointment with her mother and had been on the first bus on the bridge, heading towards Liverpool Street.

Deborah, who is in her 50s said she saw the man being shot and was then ushered off the bus towards The Shard.

‘We all thought we were going to die, there were people with children running’.

She added that once her and her mother had reached the south of the bridge she heard around 10-15 shots. She also said that one man had ran up to her and her mother, claiming ‘someone had a shooter’.

The Met police were unable to clarify whether or not extra shots had been fired. 

Metropolitan Police Chief Cressida Dick confirmed this evening that two stabbing victims had died and three injured people were being treated in a hospital.

After the brave bystanders tackled the man to the ground police intervened, pulling the heroes off the terrorist and getting them to safety.

The officers were then seen lining up in close range of the man, before he was shot. 

The violence erupted two-and-a-half years after a van and knife attack in the same area killed eight people, and less than two weeks before Britain holds a national election.  

The incident started close to London’s main financial hub where thousands of bankers and finance workers travel every day. 

It started outside Grade II listed building Fishmongers’ Hall. Many buildings in the financial district were on high security this afternoon as roads were closed in the area, many workers were also stood outside their buildings as officers cordoned off the roads. 

Extra police officers will be on patrol across London in the wake of the attack, while British Transport Police said there also would be more officers on the transport network including firearms officers and other specialist teams. 

In a show of solidarity to those who lost their lives and were caught up in the attack the main political parties temporarily suspended campaigning in London as a mark of respect.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that ‘to the best of our knowledge, the incident has been contained’ but that details were still emerging.

Johnson’s office said the prime minister would chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, COBRA, on Friday evening.

Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Neil Basu said the suspect appeared to be wearing a bomb vest but it turned out to be ‘a hoax explosive device.’

Basu said officers were keeping ‘an open mind as to any motive.’

‘A number of other people received injuries during this incident. As soon as we can provide further updates on their condition, we will,’ he told the press conference.

‘Our heartfelt sympathies go out to everybody who has been involved in this and is anxiously waiting for information on their loved ones.

‘As soon as we can get that information, we will get it to you.’

A large police cordon remains in place around the north side of London Bridge following the knife attack.

Pedestrian and vehicle access along Upper Thames Street, which runs underneath part of the bridge, is blocked by police at its junction with Swan Lane through to Lower Thames Street at its junction with Fish Hill Street.

The pedestrian cordon extends north-east to Fenchurch Street, at its junction with Philpot Lane, and north to Gracechurch Street, at its junction with Bell Inn Yard.

On the northwest side on the bridge, the pedestrian cordon extends to Cannon Street at its junction with Bush Lane. Monument Station, which is within the cordon, remains closed.