How the Fishmongers’ Hall attack unfolded
.
Convicted terrorist Usman Khan killed two talented young people and injured three more in around five minutes during a knife attack at Fishmongers’ Hall.
An inquest into the deaths of Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, has heard a detailed account of how events unfolded.
March 10 1991: Usman Khan is born in Stoke-on-Trent.
2010: Aged 19, Khan is convicted of terrorism offences and spends the next eight years in jail. In that time, he becomes involved with Learning Together organisation.
December 2018: Khan is released from jail on various licence conditions and lives in Stafford.
March 2019: Khan maintains contact with Learning Together and is involved with filming a video for the organisation.
June 2019: He attends a Learning Together event at one of his former prisons, HMP Whitemoor.
November 29 2019, 7.30am: Khan travels by train from Stafford to Euston Station in London. He is met at the station by a Learning Together staff member and he travels by Tube and foot to Fishmongers’ Hall near London Bridge.
On route to London, it is believed Khan straps a fake suicide belt around his waist and covers it with his jacket.
11am to noon: The delegates attend a brunch at Fishmongers’ Hall.
11.56am: Video footage shows Khan talking “animatedly” with Saskia Jones at a table, even though they had not known each other before.
12noon: The main Learning Together sessions get under way with speeches in the Banqueting Hall followed by breakout sessions until 1.30pm.
1.37pm: Jack Merritt leaves the building briefly, returning at 1.40pm.
1.45pm: A further breakout session is due to begin but Khan goes down to the toilets on the ground floor next to the reception area.
Around 1.53pm: Mr Merritt goes to the gents toilets.
Between 1.56-1.57pm: Khan launches his attack in the men’s toilets at Fishmongers’ Hall with two knives strapped into his hands.
As he prepares, he leaves a bag containing a third blade in a cubicle and drops a prayer book on the floor.
He encounters Mr Merritt in the toilets and stabs him multiple times, causing 12 injuries including a fatal wound to the chest.
Khan makes his way to the cloakroom area, where he gestured to a member of staff “as if to be quiet”.
He stabs Ms Jones once in the neck. She staggers up a few steps before collapsing.
Khan goes on to stab Stephanie Szczotko in the arm at the bottom of the stairs before stabbing Isobel Rowbotham in the main reception.
Over the next few minutes, Khan is confronted by a number of people who take items from the walls to defend themselves, including a ornamental pike and narwhal tusks.
Khan returns to attack Ms Rowbotham again as she lies on the ground. He also injures the Fishmongers’ Hall porter Lukasz Koczocik, who suffers a stab to the arm.
Khan forces a member of staff to open the doors by holding a knife to his chest.
He tries to chase a member of the public back inside the hall but is unsuccessful.
1.58pm: Police receive a call to attend the scene.
Around 2.01pm: Khan is pursued on to London Bridge by John Crilly, Steven Gallant and Darryn Frost.
During a confrontation on the bridge, Mr Crilly sprays a fire extinguisher at him and Mr Frost jabs at him with a narwhal tusk before they all tackled Khan to the ground with other members of the public.
2.02pm: Armed City of London Police officers arrive on the bridge and tell members of the public to stand back.
Khan is shot and Tasered by police, causing him to writhe on the ground.
2.10pm: Khan is shot again due to the alleged “threat” from what police believed was an improvised explosive device strapped to his body.
2.12pm Khan no longer shows any signs of life.
2.25pm Ms Jones is pronounced dead from a single neck wound.
2.33pm: Mr Merritt is pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination later confirms he suffered multiple knife wounds, including some defensive injuries. The fatal wound is to the chest.
2.41: An explosives officer moves towards Khan with armed officers and concludes the IED is fake.
3.07pm: Khan’s life is pronounced extinct.
