London Bridge attack: First victim named as pressure mounts on Johnson for investigation into release of convict taught by Anjem Choudary
Security minister confirms police are not looking for more suspects in investigation
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Labour and the Conservatives sought to blame each other for the release of the convicted terrorist who killed two people in London Bridge on Friday.
Prime minister Boris Johnson and home secretary Priti Patel both claimed that Jeremy Corbyn’s party was responsible for the law that meant 28-year-old Usman Khan was freed on licence half way through his 16-year sentence.
Meanwhile former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper questioned what action the government took to assess the risks posed by the attacker, and both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, pointed to cuts made to public services over the last decade.
The attacker, who was convicted of terrorism offences in 2012 and released last December, was fatally shot by police at about 2pm on Friday.
One of the victims has been named as 25-year-old Jack Merritt, who worked as a course coordinator for the prisoners’ rehabilitation programme holding the event at Fishmongers’ Hall.
His father David described him as “an exceptional young man” and called for greater funding of probation services monitoring released prisoners.
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More tributes are being paid to victim Jack Merritt, the 25-year-old course coordinator for a prisoners' rehabilitation programme.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Manchester in 2016, he went on to study at the University of Cambridge where he worked in the criminology department running "Learning Together".
The programme gives students the opportunity to work with inmates as part of their courses and study together in an attempt to reduce re-offending, and involves multiple universities and prisons.
A number of former programme participants, including the killer, had been invited to take part in a conference to mark the programme's fifth anniversary at Fishmongers' Hall in the capital.
A vigil was held in Cambridge on Saturday to mark the incident.
Mr Merritt had appeared on a BBC Radio 4 podcast earlier this year to talk about his work with inmates studying law at Warren Hill prison in Suffolk.
Boris Johnson has released a video saying his "immediate takeaway" from the attack is that serious and violent offenders should not be released early from their sentences.
He says: "It is clear to me that this guy was out, he'd served half his sentence, he was out on automatic early release and I have long said that this system simply isn't working.
"It doesn't make sense for us as a society to be putting people convicted of serious terrorist offences of serious violent offences out on early release and we argue that people should serve the term for which they are sentenced.
"That's my immediate takeaway from this and that's why we are committed to increasing the sentences for serious and violent offenders and why I have argued that when people are sentenced to a certain number of years they should serve every year of that sentence."
The father of victim Jack Merritt had earlier said that his son "would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily". The tweet has since been deleted.
A former head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command has argued attacker Usman Khan should have been barred from entering central London as part of the conditions of his early release from prison.
Richard Walton also suggested longer prison terms and better deradicalisation programmes within jails are needed to help stop offenders committing attacks after they are released.
"His licence conditions should have restricted him from visiting central London," he said.
"It is unusual for terrorist prisoners who have been released to go on to commit attacks. Every case is unique and risk assessments are complex.
"The only way to be 100 per cent certain of zero risk is to keep a prisoner in prison. All forms of surveillance have limitations."
Usman Khan was freed on licence in December 2018 and was wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack.
UK head of counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu said Khan had been subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) and had complied with an "extensive list of licence conditions" following his early release.
The precise terms of Khan's release are not yet known.
As politicians continue to argue about which party was to blame for Usman Khan's early release, here is a short explanation of his contact with the criminal justice system.
In December 2010, Khan and eight others were charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and other terrorism offences.
On February 1, 2012, all nine pleaded guilty to a variety of terrorist offences, with Khan admitting a lesser charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism between November 1 and December 21, 2010. This related to plans for a terrorist training camp in the Kashmir region of Pakistan, including attending operational meetings, fundraising for terrorist training, preparing to travel abroad and assisting others in travelling abroad.
Khan and two others, known as the Stoke defendants, were originally given indeterminate sentences with a minimum term of eight years behind bars instead of a fixed term. The judge Mr Justice Wilkie concluded it was required to protect the public, as Khan had a "serious long-term plan" and a commitment to terrorism.
These indeterminate sentences, known as Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs), came into force in 2005 and were given to violent or sexual offenders who posed a risk to society. IPP prisoners would have to serve the minimum before the Parole Board could consider whether it was safe for them to be released.
The law was changed in December 2012, abolishing the IPP and replacing it with "two strikes" life sentences, or extended sentences where offenders would have to serve two-thirds of their sentence (rather than half as in other determinant sentences). This new legislation also stated that offenders given a custodial term of 10 years or more (such as in Khan's case) were referred to the Parole Board after reaching that two-thirds point..
Khan appealed against his sentence and it was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2013 because he had been "wrongly characterised" as more dangerous than the other defendants from London who were given determinate (fixed term) sentences of imprisonment.
Mr Justice Leveson, based on the law as it applied at the time of the offence, gave Khan an extended determinate sentence of 16 years imprisonment, with an extra five years licence. This meant he would be automatically released after eight years - half way through his sentence - and then supervised by the probation service for 13 years after his release.
As a result Khan was freed in December 2018 after spending eight years in prison, including the 408 days he spent in custody before his trial.
Islamic State has claimed the London Bridge attack on Friday was carried out by one of its fighters, according the group's Amaq news agency.
Amaq added that the attack was made in response to Islamic State calls to target countries that have been part of a coalition fighting the jihadist group. No evidence was provided to support the claim.
The attacker wrote to a specialist intervention provider for help with deradicalisation while in prison, according to his solicitor Vajahat Sharif.
Mr Sharif told the BBC that Khan wanted to "correct" himself but "the powers that be were unable to provide that assistance while he was in custody".
As a recently released prisoner, attacker Usman Khan was being monitored by MI5 but not kept under constant surveillance, reports The Independent's defence editor Kim Sengupta.
Such monitoring involves a number of security measures rather than a target being tracked at all times.
There was no reason for a round-the-clock watch, say security officials, because there had been no intelligence to suggest that he had returned to terrorism.
Some more tributes to London Bridge victim Jack Merritt, including one from British rapper Dave.
A picture of the scene on London Bridge (PA)
Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said earlier this evening: “Detectives and forensic officers remain at the London Bridge area and cordons continue to be in place as we meticulously gather the evidence required for the investigation and this obviously may take some time.
"We’re working as fast as we can, we would ask the public to continue to avoid the area and we really thank those affected by this for their patience and understanding."
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