Prison chaplain: I may have been ‘conned’ by ‘remorseful’ Fishmongers’ attacker
There was intelligence that Fishmongers’ Hall attacker Usman Khan “might commit an attack” around the time he was released from prison for a terror offence, an inquest jury has heard.
Jonathan Hough QC also told the inquests into the deaths of Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones there was a suggestion that their killer, who travelled from his home in Stafford to carry out the attack, tried to radicalise other inmates before his release.
Khan, 28, attacked Mr Merritt, 25, and Ms Jones, 23, at a prisoner rehabilitation event near London Bridge on November 29 2019, a year after his release from jail having been convicted of planning a jihadist training camp.
Reverend Paul Foster, chaplain at the category A Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, told the inquests it would be a “surprise” to him if there was intelligence against Khan.
He said Khan had engaged positively with programmes looking at his offending and the impact of his crimes, but said it was possible he may have been “conned” by him.
Mr Foster told the inquests: “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.”
Mr Hough asked: “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?”
Mr Foster said it would.
Mr Hough also said that, at the time of his release, there was intelligence that Khan might commit an attack.
Inquest coverage:
Mr Foster replied: “That would be a surprise.
“If that intelligence is correct, he was obviously presenting himself in a way that was likely to deceive the likes of myself and others.”
He added: “I’m open to say I am wrong, and it is possible I have been conned.”
Mr Foster also said Khan had spoken “openly and emotionally” during a discussion session with a victim of crime.
He added: “We were being presented with a lot of positive things about his behaviour – even some of the prisoners were telling me … in one instance a chap lost his son to a murder and Usman was the person at his door offering his condolences and asking if he could help.”
The chaplain, who worked with prisoners of all faiths, described one session with Khan in which he professed “some shame” about the impact his crime had on the Muslim community.
“He appeared to show remorse for what he had done,” Mr Foster said.
Khan, who was originally from Stoke, was living at flats on Wolverhampton Road, Stafford, before the attack. He was released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through a 16-year prison sentence, after he was convicted of terror offences in February 2012.
The jury inquests, taking place before coroner Mark Lucraft QC, continue.
