Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 5/2/2024 (the last time our crawler visited it). This is the version of the page that was used for ranking your search results. The page may have changed since we last cached it. To see what might have changed (without the highlights), go to the current page.
Bing is not responsible for the content of this page.
London Bridge attack: victim named as Jack Merritt – as it happened | London Bridge terror attack 2019 | The GuardianSkip to main contentSkip to navigation
The attack started just before 2pm on Friday at Fishmongers’ Hall, at the north end of London Bridge, where a prisoner rehabilitation conference was underway.
28-year-old Usman Khan, who was attending the conference, stabbed five people, before moving onto the bridge where he was restrained by members of the public and shot by police.
Two people were killed, a man and a woman. The man has been named as 25-year-old Jack Merritt, the course coordinator for Learning Together, a programme run by the University of Cambridge’s institute of criminology, which was running the event. Three people, a man and two women, are injured and remain in hospital.
A convicted murderer was among ex-prisoners and members of the public who grappled with the attacker. One man was armed with a fire extinguisher and another – identified in reports as Polish chef Łukasz – wielded a 5ft narwhal tusk taken from Fishmongers’ Hall.
Among those who pinned down the attacker was James Ford, 42, who is also thought to have tried to save the life of a woman who had been stabbed. He was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion.
British Transport police have confirmed that a man in a suit filmed running away from the scene with a knife taken from the attacker was one of their officers in plain clothes.
Usman Khan was previously jailed for an al-Qaida inspired plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange and was wearing an electronic tag at the time of the attack. He released from jail on licence in 2018, half way through a 16-year sentence.
Khan’s lawyer told the Guardian that his client had asked for help to be deradicalised while he was in prison.
Police have searched properties in Stoke, where Khan was from, and Stafford. They have said that there is no evidence anybody else was involved.
Isis claimed that the attack was carried out by one of its fighters, though it provided no evidence.
Politicians have sought to blame each other for the fact that Khan was able to stage the attack after being convicted on terrorism offences. Home secretary Priti Patel blamed it on legislation brought in by the previous Labour government, while shadow home secretary Diane Abbott pointed to a lack of resources.
Outside Khan’s family home, where his parents lived, nobody was answering the door but half a dozen young Muslim men were gathered in the cold, rebuffing reporters from the BBC and Daily Mail.
“Why are they hanging here?” Mahmood, a taxi driver, was incensed by the group. “They’re just hanging about in the streets and when they’re hanging about like that people think they’re gangs. Then they act like gangs and get into drugs and extremism,” he speculated.
“These are awara boys, awara means loafer, layabout, good for nothing. That’s one problem with young boys when they leave school and have no hope in life. It makes some of them easy to brainwash into drugs and extremism – they are both the same thing to me. Dangerous. Bad. If you’re taking drugs or a criminal, it’s easier to become an extremist I think.”
Two streets down, Mr Rehman, who has children the same age as Khan, said locals were still processing what had happened. “Yesterday, this was something that happened in London. It wasn’t until 2am that people found out in the news that there were links to Staffordshire; when I woke up, [reports] said Khan had come from here? No he didn’t, he wasn’t living here.” The community wasn’t in denial, he said, but everyone was feeling “very sensitive”.
How was the community feeling towards the Khan family? “Look, it’s shameful,” he said. “But people feel sorry for the family. No one wants to get involved and put any blame on the parents, everyone knows it’s not their fault. Some kids become uncontrollable, what are they supposed to do?”
The Khan family originate from Mirpur, in Azad Kashmir, which has grown to become the largest city in the region and is known as “Little England” – much of the modern buildings, several storey homes and restaurants in recent decades have been built by the British Mirpuri expat community.
Islamic State has said that the London Bridge attack on Friday was carried out by one of its fighters, though they did not provide any evidence.
The group’s Amaq news agency reported that the attack was made in response to Isis calls to target countries that have been part of a coalition fighting the jihadist group.
Mohammed Pervez, local councillor for the Moorcroft ward where Khan’s parents live, was dealing with a questions from residents when we met in the street.
Everyone is shocked. Our heart goes out to the people affected by this horrific attack, and we are all upset but for one, this person has not been in this community or connected to this community for over a decade now. To my knowledge, he hasn’t been back here. He was forgotten in effect until the incident. He has nothing to do with us and we didn’t know he had been released from prison.
Rabeea, a teaching assistant who was carrying groceries from Costcutter, couldn’t understand how a close neighbour could have been involved in the terror attack.
Yes, this is a socially deprived area in some ways but you can’t talk about that because it sounds like an excuse for this person and there is no excuse. He has committed such an haraam act, but what can his parents do? You can’t blame them – some of that generation are in a funny middle ground where they don’t listen to their parents or the elders. They use their rights and freedoms to tell them that they can’t be told what to do. They don’t listen.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has tweeted that the government “need to listen to police chiefs who say a lack of resources to policing and the criminal justice system puts us all in danger”.
“We need the proper resources to monitor convicted terrorists,” she said.
Govt need to listen to police chiefs who say a lack of resources to policing and the criminal justice system puts us all in danger. We need the proper resources to monitor convicted terrorists.
Observer reporter Nosheen Iqbal has been speaking to people in Stoke-on-Trent.
At zuhr prayers on Saturday lunchtime outside a small white and green mosque in Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent, dozens of men and women in puffa jackets, heavy coats and kurtas gathered in the car park, unable to fit into the single storey building for the funeral taking place inside. “One of our community elders has passed, it’s a massive death,” explained a young, softly-spoken man in his twenties who didn’t want to give his name. He grew up with Usman Khan, whose family live in a terraced cul-de-sac around the corner.
The congregation was unusually subdued, making the street eerily quiet. “He grew up in our ends, we grew up on the same streets, we know every single one of his brothers and sisters, his mum and dad, we went to primary school and high school with him.”
A murmur of disquiet rippled among the older parents behind him, who asked their community to be left alone. “It’s a difficult time and nobody wants to talk about it to journalists because we don’t want to be associated with what happened in London,” said the young man apologetically. “We don’t understand how [Khan] ended up like this. How can you have a person who went to prison for extremism and terror and then he’s let out and he’s got a tag on and ends up back in London to do this? How? Why?”
Home Secretary Priti Patel has blamed the previous Labour government for the fact that Usman Khan was free to carry out the attack at London Bridge.
Patel took to Twitter to respond to Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who had posted a series of tweets asking how the London Bridge attacker could have been released when he was deemed so dangerous.
The Home Secretary responded:
Because legislation brought in by your government in 2008 meant that dangerous terrorists had to automatically be released after half of their jail term. Conservatives changed the law in 2012 to end your automatic release policy but Khan was convicted before this.
Patel then posted a link to a news article and tweeted: “The Parole Board could not be involved in this decision [Jeremy Corbyn]. Your party changed the law in 2008 so that Khan was automatically released irrespective of the danger he posed. Very concerning that you want to be PM but don’t understand this.”
The Parole Board said it had no involvement in his release and that Khan “appears to have been released automatically on licence” halfway through his sentence.
Because legislation brought in by your government in 2008 meant that dangerous terrorists had to automatically be released after half of their jail term. Conservatives changed the law in 2012 to end your automatic release policy but Khan was convicted before this. https://t.co/8fCm880MSK
The Parole Board could not be involved in this decision @jeremycorbyn. Your party changed the law in 2008 so that Khan was automatically released irrespective of the danger he posed. Very concerning that you want to be PM but don’t understand this.https://t.co/uqUBggmEbg
Downing Street said government officials, police and security officials held a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Saturday afternoon. A spokesperson said that the prime minister would receive further updates from security officials this evening and tomorrow morning.
The BBC has this clip of Usman Khan speaking after his address was raided by anti-terror police in 2008. He later admitted being involved in a terrorist conspiracy.
Khan denies that he is a terrorist, saying he is “born and bred in England”. “All the community knows me and they will know, if you ask them, they will know. These labels that they will put on us like terrorist ... they will know. I ain’t no terrorist,” he says.
Usman Khan speaking to the BBC in 2008. Photograph: BBC News
Police say no evidence anybody else was involved in attack
Met assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Neil Basu, has been speaking to the press outside New Scotland Yard. He said there was no evidence that anybody else was involved in the attack.
At this time we have found no evidence, no evidence to suggest that anybody else was involved in this attack. However, we’re still making extensive enquiries to make sure nobody else was involved.
Usman Khan was under the MAPPA – multi-agency public protection arrangements – at the time and “there was an extensive list of licence conditions”, said Basu. “To the best of my knowledge he was compliant with those conditions”.
He said police had carried out two searches in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
The attack started just before 2pm in Fishmongers’ Hall yesterday, said Basu. “The attacker, whose identity we confirmed last night, stabbed a number of people inside the building and as a result five people have suffered injuries. Three people, a man and two women, are injured and remain in hospital.”
He repeated that a man and a woman had been killed in the attack. “Of course I am fully aware that the media and social media have named one of those victims. You must understand that I have to wait for formal identification from the coroner, but I will provide you with an update as soon as I can,” he said.
Basu said that the attacker was attending the event, called Learning Together, before he stabbed a number of people. He then left the building and went onto London Bridge, where he was pursued and detained by members of the public, as well as a plain clothed officer from the British Transport Police. Armed officers from both the City and Met polices then shot the attacker.
He was wearing what “looked like a very convincing explosive device”. “Thankfully we now know that was a hoax device,” he said.
Assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Neil Basu. Photograph: Assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Neil Basu
Tony Fitzgerald, 50, walked past the TV cameras stationed at the base of the bridge carrying a bunch of flowers. “There’s only one bunch of flowers other than my bunch,” he said, visibly upset. “Where is everyone? I thought it would be packed with flowers, but you can’t see anyone. I’ve come all the way from Essex to be here, I couldn’t sleep last night because it makes me sick.”
Imams left the first bunch of flowers at the site early this morning, and later joined Fitzgerald at the bridge where they shared an embrace. “When we arrived this morning, there were no flowers, nothing,” Mansoor Clarke said. “We thought it’d be appropriate that for an act done in the name of Islam, we were the first to lay flowers.”
His fellow imam, Sabah Ahmedi, said: “The word Islam actually means peace, so when you have a Muslim terrorist, it’s an oxymoron because it translates to peaceful terrorist.“We wanted to stand in solidarity with Londoners, and really the whole of humanity, and we’ve found a community here in our shared grief,” he added.
Fitzgerald said: “My family are Irish, and Irish people shouldn’t be blamed for the IRA, so why should Muslims be blamed for this?”
Sabah Ahmedi and Mansoor Clarke, imams of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, pray to mourn the victims at the scene of a stabbing on London Bridge. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters
Floral tributes close to London Bridge following Friday night’s attack. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP via Getty Images
Condition of critically injured victim has improved
NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, has said that the condition of a London Bridge victim who was critically injured has improved. “While three people remain in hospital, this means two are now stable and a third has less serious injuries,” he said.
While the NHS is now dealing with immediate physical injuries, the psychological impact of such events sometimes only comes to light in the days and weeks afterwards. Those caught up in the attack - supported by their friends and loved ones - can access NHS advice and support, in the first instance through calling NHS 111 and the NHS website and from specialist services if needed.
British Transport police have confirmed that a man in a suit filmed running away from the scene with a knife taken from the attacker was one of their officers in plain clothes.
We are able to confirm that a serving British Transport Police officer was involved in yesterday’s terror incident on London Bridge in the City of London. The officer, who was in plain clothes and who is based in London, helped other members of the public in detaining the suspect and preventing any further killings. He is seen in social media videos, holding a knife and walking away from the scene as City of London firearms officers arrive.
The Metropolitan police service have asked that his image be pixelated, and we are kindly asking the public and media to respect this request and not identify the officer in any way.
Our thoughts are with everyone who was affected by the dreadful attack at #LondonBridge.
We can confirm a plain clothes BTP officer was involved in detaining the suspect, thankfully he was not injured.
Chief constable Paul Crowther from British Transport Police, said:
This morning I spoke with the British Transport Police officer who bravely ran towards danger yesterday afternoon. The courageous actions he took when faced with the horrors of this attack are remarkable. He, as well as other members of the public, should be extremely proud of what they did to stop this man on London Bridge.
Lawyer Vajahat Sharif said Khan, whom he last spoke to in March, was released to a bail hostel from where he had to report to a police station every day, had interactions with the probation service and had to wear a tag.
In prison he begin to realise his Islamic thinking was not correct; he accepted that. He criticised the al-Qaida ideology and violent extremism. He did recognise that his Islamic understanding was incomplete. A lot of these characters pick and choose from different sermons, it’s like an echo chamber.
Sharif said the policy for terrorist prisoners needed to change to boost efforts to turn them away from supporting ideologies that incite violence: “There is a flaw in the policy. You should have substantial ideological evaluation of these individuals before they are released on licence.”
In a series of tweets, Jack Merritt’s father warned that he did not want his son’s death to be used as an excuse to introduce “more draconian” sentences. He wrote:
My son, Jack, who was killed in this attack, would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily. R.I.P. Jack: you were a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog.
[...] Cambridge lost a proud son and a champion for underdogs everywhere, but especially those dealt a losing hand by life, who ended up in the prison system.
One of the victims has been named in reports as Jack Merritt, who worked as a co-ordinator for Learning Together, a prisoner rehabilitation initiative run by the University’s Institute of Criminology, which organised the conference at which the attack started.
Cambridgeshire Live is quoting from a tweet, sent by Merritt’s father, David, in which he pays tribute to his son. “You were a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog,” he said.
who courageously fought with the attacker and apprehended him. I am also proud to praise the professionalism and speed shown by the City of London police officers who arrived first at the scene and shot the suspect, without a thought for their own safety.
“We continue to work closely with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police to return the City back to normal and we thank you for your patience over the coming days."
"You’ll notice more officers on the streets in the Square Mile and across London, as we seek to reassure you that we’re doing everything in our power to keep London safe.”
