Jump to content

2019 London Bridge stabbing

Coordinates: 51°30′33″N 0°05′15″W / 51.50917°N 0.08750°W / 51.50917; -0.08750
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Jack Merrit)

2019 London Bridge stabbing
Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe
Fishmongers' Hall, with London Bridge in the foreground. The attacker was shot near the street name plate on the bridge pier.
2019 London Bridge stabbing is located in City of London
London Bridge
London Bridge
2019 London Bridge stabbing is located in Greater London
2019 London Bridge stabbing
2019 London Bridge stabbing is located in the United Kingdom
2019 London Bridge stabbing
LocationFishmongers' Hall and London Bridge, London, United Kingdom
Coordinates51°30′33″N 0°05′15″W / 51.50917°N 0.08750°W / 51.50917; -0.08750
Date29 November 2019 (2019-11-29)
TargetPeople at Fishmongers' Hall and on London Bridge
Attack type
Stabbing
WeaponsTwo knives
Deaths3 (including the perpetrator)
Injured3
AssailantUsman Khan
MotiveIslamic extremism

On 29 November 2019, five people were stabbed, two fatally, in Central London. The attacker, Usman Khan, had been released from prison in 2018 on licence after serving a sentence for terrorist offences.

Since Khan was considered a "success story" for a Cambridge University rehabilitation programme,[1][2] and was featured as a case study by the University,[3] he was attending an offender rehabilitation conference in Fishmongers' Hall. He threatened to detonate what turned out to be a fake suicide vest and started attacking people with two knives taped to his wrists, killing two of the conference participants by stabbing them in the chest.[4] Several people fought back, some attacking Khan with a fire extinguisher, a pike and a narwhal tusk as he fled the building and emerged on to London Bridge, where he was partially disarmed by a plain-clothes police officer. He was restrained by members of the public until additional police officers arrived, pulled away those restraining him, and shot him.[5]

Background

[edit]

A conference on offender rehabilitation was held on 29 November 2019 in Fishmongers' Hall, at the northern end of London Bridge, in the City of London, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Learning Together, a programme run by the Cambridge Institute of Criminology to help offenders reintegrate into society following their release from prison.[6] Learning Together was set up in 2014 by University of Cambridge academics Ruth Armstrong and Amy Ludlow from the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology[7] to "bring together people in criminal justice and higher education institutions to study alongside each other in inclusive and transformative learning communities"[8] to enable students and prisoners to work together.[7]

Former prisoner Usman Khan had been invited to the conference as a previous participant in the programme,[9] and although banned from entering London under the terms of his release, he was granted a one-day exemption to attend.[10][11]

Attack

[edit]

At 13:58 on 29 November, the police were called to Fishmongers' Hall[12] after Khan, wearing a fake suicide vest, threatened to blow up the hall.[13] Holding two kitchen knives taped to his wrists, he began stabbing people inside the building.[14] Several fought back, including a Polish kitchen porter, Łukasz Koczocik, who fought Khan off with an ornamental spear,[15] a South African-born Londoner, Darryn Frost, who grabbed a 1.5-metre-long (4.9 ft) narwhal tusk from the wall to use as a weapon,[16] former prisoner John Crilly, and Steven Gallant, a convicted murderer attending the conference on day release from prison, after participating in the Learning Together programme.[17][18] Khan fled and began stabbing pedestrians outside on the north side of the bridge.[18]

Several people were injured before members of the public, including a tour guide[19][20] and a plain-clothes British Transport Police officer, later seen walking away with a knife, restrained and disarmed Khan on the bridge.[14][21] One of the people who stepped in to fight the attacker drove him back by spraying a fire extinguisher.[22][17]

Armed officers of the City of London Police arrived at 14:03 and surrounded the attacker, who at the time was being restrained by a Ministry of Justice communications worker attending the rehabilitation meeting.[23][24] The officers pulled this person away to provide a clear shot, before one fired twice.[25][21] At 14:10, Khan started to get up; he was then shot 10 further times by 6 firearms officers. Khan had not been secured after the initial shooting due to the suicide vest.[26] Khan died at the scene.[27]

A Transport for London bus which had stopped adjacent to the site of the shooting was found to have damage to both its front and rear windows, possibly caused, according to the Metropolitan Police, by a ricocheting bullet.[28]

Victims

[edit]

Three of the victims were associated with Cambridge University's Learning Together prison-rehabilitation programme; two died and one was injured.[29] The two who died from their stab wounds[30] were Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones. Merritt was a 25-year-old law and criminology graduate who had studied at the University of Manchester and Cambridge University. For his Master's thesis, he had written about the "overrepresentation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic males aged 18–21 in the British Prison System."[31] He worked as a University of Cambridge administration officer and was from Cottenham.[32] Jones, 23 years old, was a former Anglia Ruskin University[33] and University of Cambridge student from Stratford-upon-Avon.[34] Merritt was a course coordinator for Learning Together.[35] Funeral services for Merritt and Jones were conducted on 20 December 2019.[36]

Two other women were seriously injured, while a chef who was working at the event was stabbed but had less serious injuries.[37]

Perpetrator

[edit]
Main article: Usman Khan (terrorist)

The attacker was identified as Usman Khan, a 28-year-old British national from Stoke-on-Trent, of Pakistani descent.[38] Khan appears to have left school with no qualifications after spending part of his late teens in Pakistan.[39] He was known to police and had links to Islamist extremist groups.[40][41] In December 2018 he had been automatically released from prison on licence, where he was serving a 16-year sentence for terrorism offences, and was wearing an electronic tag.[42][43][44]

Khan had been part of a plot, inspired by Al-Qaeda, to establish a terrorist camp on his family's land in Kashmir and bomb the London Stock Exchange.[45] The plot was disrupted by MI5 and the police, as part of MI5's Operation Guava,[46][47] and Khan was given an indeterminate sentence.[48][49] Of the nine men involved, Khan was the youngest at 19 and according to Mr Justice Wilkie, Khan and two others were “more serious jihadis” than the others.[50] In 2013, his sentence was revised after an appeal, and he was ordered to serve at least 8 years of his new 16-year sentence, with a 5-year extended licence allowing recall to prison.[51]

According to the anti-extremism group Hope not Hate, Khan was a supporter of Al-Muhajiroun, an extremist group with which scores of terrorists were involved.[52] He was a student and a personal friend of Anjem Choudary, an Islamist and terrorism supporter.[53] Khan had previously participated in the Learning Together programme.[17]

Post-mortem examination showed evidence of "occasional use of cocaine" by Khan.[54]

Aftermath

[edit]

The news of the attack was broken live as it happened on the BBC News Channel by one of its reporters, John McManus, who witnessed members of the public fighting Khan as he crossed the bridge, and heard two shots being fired by police officers. McManus said that he was certain that more than two shots were fired during the incident.[24] The police, ambulance, and fire services attended the scene and a major incident was declared.[21][55] A large police cordon was set up in the area and residents were told to stay away.[55][56] Police closed both Monument Underground station[21] and London Bridge station after the attack.[55][57] The police reported that there had been no prior intelligence of the attack.[55]

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, returned to Downing Street following the incident, after campaigning in his constituency for the forthcoming general election. Johnson commended the "immense bravery" of the emergency services and members of the public,[55] and claimed that anyone involved in the attack would be "hunted down".[58] The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, thanked the emergency services and members of the public who helped to restrain the attacker, saying they had shown "breathtaking heroism".[55] The Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats temporarily suspended campaigning in London for the general election.[55][58] A parliamentary election hustings event scheduled to be held at Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge on 30 November was cancelled and replaced by a memorial vigil for the victims of the attack.[59]

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick made a statement following the attack describing events. She said there would be an increased police presence on the streets and that cordons in the London Bridge area would remain in place. An appeal was made for the public to submit any film or picture evidence or information that could assist the investigation.[60]

In Pakistan, publication of Khan's Pakistani origins by the leading newspaper Dawn were deemed unpatriotic and defamatory, and led to demonstrations demanding that the publisher and the editor be hanged.[61][62][63]

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Its news agency, Amaq, claimed Usman Khan was one of its fighters.[64][65] A janaza prayer for Khan was held at a mosque in Birmingham, and he was buried in his family's ancestral village in Pakistan, following objections to his burial in the UK by local Muslims in his native Stoke.[66]

In 2021, following an inquest, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall QC called for those involved in the planning or preparation of terrorist attacks to be given automatic life sentences. Hall stated it was "hard to underestimate how serious Usman Khan's original offence was."[67]

In March 2023, Gallant, Crilly, Frost and Lukasz Koczocik were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for their actions during the attack.[15]

Royal prerogative of mercy

[edit]

Gallant was granted the royal prerogative of mercy by the Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Queen in October 2020, in order to bring his parole hearing forward by ten months to June 2021. The Ministry of Justice said this was "in recognition of his exceptionally brave actions at Fishmongers' Hall, which helped save people's lives despite the tremendous risk to his own".[68] The families of both Merritt and of Gallant's 2005 murder victim approved of the action due to his heroic deeds and efforts to turn his life around since the murder.[69][70] The Parole Board announced on 6 July that he would be released that day.[71]

Investigations

[edit]

London Bridge was closed until the early hours of the following Monday for forensic investigation of the scene. Two properties, in Stafford, where Khan lived, and in Stoke-on-Trent, were searched by police.[72]

An inquest into the deaths of Merritt and Jones was opened on 4 December, at the Central Criminal Court in London, and was subsequently adjourned.[28][73] A pre-inquest review hearing took place at the Old Bailey on 16 October 2020, before the Chief Coroner of England and Wales, Mark Lucraft QC.[54] The Independent Office for Police Conduct is holding an investigation into the shooting.[28] In a separate investigation Staffordshire Police are also under IOPC scrutiny.[74]

The inquest reopened on 12 April 2021, presided over by Lucraft.[75] On 28 May 2021 the jury concluded the victims had been unlawfully killed and that insufficient monitoring of Khan, unreasonable belief in his rehabilitation, a lack of information sharing between agencies, and inadequate security planning at the event were all contributing factors in their deaths.[76]

Khan's inquest, also overseen by Lucraft[73] in June 2021, found that he was lawfully killed by the police.[77]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dixon, Hayley; Ward, Victoria; Wilford, Greg (1 December 2019). "London bridge attacker was poster boy for rehab scheme he targeted". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  2. ^ Harper, Tom; Ungoed-Thomas, Jon; Wheeler, Caroline (1 December 2019). "London Bridge attack: poster boy for rehabilitation. And killer". The Times. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  3. ^ McInnes, Kathie (6 December 2019). "How London Bridge murderer Usman Khan's radicalisation began in Stoke-on-Trent". stokesentinel.
  4. ^ Grierson, Jamie (10 December 2019). "Islamist extremism remains dominant UK terror threat, say experts". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Fishmongers' Hall Inquest". Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  6. ^ "London Bridge attack: What is the Learning Together scheme?". BBC News. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  7. ^ a b Ludlow, Amy; Armstrong, Ruth (2 March 2016). "Learning Together – being, belonging, becoming". Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  8. ^ "Learning Together". University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  9. ^ Duncan, Conrad; Stubley, Peter (1 December 2019). "London Bridge attack: First victim named as pressure mounts on Johnson for investigation into release of convict taught by Anjem Choudary". The Independent. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  10. ^ "Usman Khan attack at London Bridge: what we know so far". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  11. ^ "London Bridge attacker convicted of terror offence". BBC News. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Statement from the Commissioner following incident at London Bridge". 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  13. ^ Brown, David; Ford, Richard; Yeomans, Emma; Morgan-Bentley, Paul; Elliott, Francis (30 November 2019). "Terrorist wearing a tag kills two on London Bridge". The Times.
  14. ^ a b "London Bridge attack: 'Amazing heroes' praised". BBC News. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  15. ^ a b "No. 64000". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 March 2023. pp. 5350–5351.
  16. ^ "Narwhal tusk hero a year on from London Bridge attack". BBC News. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Marsh, Sarah (30 November 2019). "Narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher used to tackle London Bridge attacker". The Guardian.
  18. ^ a b "London Bridge: Latest updates as investigations continue after stabbing attack". BBC News. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  19. ^ Wharton, Jane (30 November 2019). "Named and pictured: The London Bridge attacker was convicted terrorist". Metro. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  20. ^ Booth, Robert (3 December 2019). "Bravery, teamwork, tragedy: How London Bridge attack unfolded". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  21. ^ a b c d Weaver, Matthew; Marsh, Sarah (29 November 2019). "London Bridge: suspect shot dead by police in incident 'treated as if terror-related' – live news". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  22. ^ "London Bridge: Video shows public confront London Bridge attacker". BBC News. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  23. ^ "London Bridge attack: Darryn Frost on using a narwhal tusk to stop knifeman". BBC News. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  24. ^ a b Coughlan, Sean (7 December 2019). "300 seconds on London Bridge". BBC. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  25. ^ "London Bridge attack filmed from all angles". Sky News. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  26. ^ Gardham, Duncan (1 June 2021). "London Bridge attack: Terrorist Usman Khan shot at 20 times by police, inquest hears". Sky Newn.
  27. ^ "London Bridge: Attacker had been convicted of terror offence". BBC News. 30 November 2019.
  28. ^ a b c Coughlan, Sean (11 December 2019). "London Bridge shot might have passed through bus". BBC News.
  29. ^ Stephen Fidler; Paul Hannon (1 December 2019). "London Attack Reflects Problems in Tracking Convicted Terrorists". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  30. ^ "London Bridge attacker had terror conviction". BBC News. 30 November 2019.
  31. ^ "London Bridge attack victim had 'lust for life'". BBC News. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  32. ^ Brown, Richard (30 November 2019). "First victim of London Bridge terror attack named as Cambridge University worker". cambridgenews.
  33. ^ Lynne, Freddie; Pengelly, Ella (2 December 2019). "Cambridge vigil for terror attack victims Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones". CambridgeshireLive.
  34. ^ "Second London Bridge victim named as Saskia Jones". BBC News. 1 December 2019.
  35. ^ "London Bridge attack victim named as Jack Merritt". BBC News. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  36. ^ "London Bridge victims Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones remembered in services". BBC News. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  37. ^ "London Bridge attack: What we know so far". BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  38. ^ Townsend, Mark; Iqbal, Nosheen (30 November 2019). "We don't understand how Usman Khan ended up like this". The Guardian.
  39. ^ Rehman, Atika (1 December 2019). "London attacker of Pakistani descent is terror convict: officials". Dawn.
  40. ^ Newsnight, BBC2, 29 November 2019
  41. ^ Davies, Gareth (29 November 2019). "London Bridge: Attacker who killed two was convicted terrorist who was wearing a tag". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  42. ^ "London Bridge attack: Did Boris Johnson vote against early prisoner release?". BBC News. 3 December 2018.
  43. ^ "LIVE: London Bridge knife attacker known to police and had links to terror groups". Sky News.
  44. ^ "Usman Khan profile: terrorist who wanted to bomb London Stock Exchange". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  45. ^ Chung, Alison (30 November 2019). "London Bridge killer Usman Khan was convicted terrorist recently freed from jail". Sky News.
  46. ^ Hannon, Paul; Fidler, Stephen (30 November 2019). "Attack by Convicted Terrorist Prompts U.K. to Review Sentencing". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  47. ^ "Stock Exchange plotters: Fantasists or a threat?". BBC News. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  48. ^ Casciani, Dominic (8 February 2012). "Stock Exchange plotters: Fantasists or a threat?". BBC News.
  49. ^ "Nine men jailed over terror plot". BBC News. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  50. ^ "Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Wilkie" (PDF). Judiciary of England and Wales. 9 February 2012.
  51. ^ "Stoke terror sentences revised". BBC News. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  52. ^ "Gateway to Terror" (PDF). HOPE not hate. October 2018. p. 19. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  53. ^ Sheridan, Danielle; Sawer, Patrick; Swerling, Gabriella; O'Neill, Katie; Ensor, Josie (30 November 2019). "London Bridge attack: Usman Khan was student of, and personal friend of Anjem Choudary". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  54. ^ a b "Fishmonger's Hall attack: Prevent officers for Usman Khan 'lacked training'". BBC News. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  55. ^ a b c d e f g "Latest updates as shots fired on London Bridge". BBC News. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  56. ^ "London Bridge incident – live updates: Armed police 'shoot man dead' as area evacuated amid major security operation in capital". MSN. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  57. ^ "Man shot dead by police in London Bridge attack". BBC News. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  58. ^ a b "London Bridge terror attack: Boris Johnson vows to 'hunt down' anyone involved — latest news". Financial Times. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  59. ^ "Cambridge University staff member Jack Merritt among those killed in London Bridge Attack". University of Cambridge. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  60. ^ "Statement from the Commissioner following incident at London Bridge". MPS. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  61. ^ Withnall, Adam (4 December 2019). "Pakistan newspaper besieged by Islamists calling for editor to be hanged over London Bridge coverage". The Independent. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  62. ^ Mohammad, Niala (4 December 2019). "London Attack Coverage Prompted Riots Against a Pakistani Newspaper". VOA. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  63. ^ Recent attacks against independent media in Pakistan Archived 17 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 16 December 2019.
  64. ^ Castle, Stephen (30 November 2019). "Amid Heroism in London, Gnawing Fear of a Simmering Terrorism Threat". New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  65. ^ "Islamic State claims responsibility for London Bridge knife attack, says Usman Khan was one of its fighters". South China Morning Post. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  66. ^ Hymas, Charles; Farmer, Ben (6 December 2019). "London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan is buried in family village in Pakistan after UK backlash". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019.
  67. ^ "Terror laws watchdog calls for life sentences for attack planners". The Richmond and Twickenham Times. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  68. ^ Warburton, Dan; Macaskill, Grace (17 October 2020). "Murderer on day release who foiled London Bridge terrorist is pardoned by Queen". mirror. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  69. ^ "Queen intervenes to cut sentence of convicted killer who restrained London Bridge attacker". Sky News. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  70. ^ Otte, Jedidajah (17 October 2020). "Murderer who tackled London Bridge attacker with narwhal tusk to have sentence reduced". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  71. ^ "Fishmongers' Hall: Steven Gallant to be freed from prison". BBC News. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  72. ^ "London Bridge attack: Living next door to Usman Khan 'scary'". BBC News. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  73. ^ a b Siddique, Haroon (4 December 2019). "London Bridge attack victims died after being stabbed in chest – inquest". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  74. ^ Speare-Cole, Rebecca (12 December 2019). "Staffordshire Police to be investigated over handling of London Bridge attacker Usman Khan". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  75. ^ Dodd, Vikram (12 April 2021). "Security services and police to face questions over London Bridge attacker". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  76. ^ Harvey, Sarah (28 May 2021). "London Bridge terror attack victims were 'unlawfully killed', inquest finds". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  77. ^ "Fishmongers' Hall: Usman Khan was lawfully killed by police". BBC News. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2019_London_Bridge_stabbing&oldid=1254136521#Victims"