Streatham terror attack – live: ‘My son was radicalised in prison’, attacker’s mother says amid calls to end automatic release of terrorists
Follow here for the latest updates
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
The Isis supporter who stabbed two people in a terror attack on a south London high street has been named as 20-year-old Sudesh Amman.
Scotland Yard confirmed Amman was under surveillance at the time of the Streatham attack, having only been released from prison days ago after being jailed in 2018 for disseminating terrorist material and collecting information useful for terror attacks.
Counterterror police have raided a probation hostel in London and a Hertfordshire property but no arrests have yet been made, while mayor Sadiq Khan expressed anger at Boris Johnson’s government over its failure to prevent the “foreseeable and preventable” attack.
The male victim who was stabbed in the attack is no longer in a life-threatening condition, while one woman, in her fifties, was discharged from hospital late on Sunday. Another woman, in her twenties, is believed to have been struck by shattered glass and was receiving treatment, police said.
His mother, Haleema Faraz Khan, told Sky News that he was a “nice, polite boy” and that he had become more religious in prison.
Ms Khan said she believed her son had come radicalised while in HMP Belmarsh, where concerns have previously been raised over Islamist extremism and networking between terrorist prisoners.
The justice minister is expected to announce “fundamental changes” to how the UK imprisons convicted terrorists on Monday evening, but it was not immediately clear how the measures would go beyond the 2019 Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act – which ended automatic early release for a host of terror offences.
Amman's mother says she believes he was radicalised in prison
Haleema Faraz Khan told Sky News that her son was a "nice, polite boy" who had seemed "normal" when she visited him at his bail hostel on Thursday.
Ms Khan said Amman, the eldest of her five sons, had also developed extreme views after looking at Islamist material online.
He had become more religious since being in prison, Ms Khan said, adding that she believed he had been radicalised while in high-security jail Belmarsh.
Amman was jailed in 2018 for terror offences, but only served half of his sentence of three years and four months.
While Isis has claimed the attack, and Amman was a known supporter, there is no proof that the group played any role in the attack.
However, it comes days after the United Nations warned Isis was beginning to reassert itself in Iraq and Syria.
"[ISIL], following its loss of territory, has begun to reassert itself in both the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, mounting increasingly bold insurgent attacks, calling and planning for the breakout of ISIL fighters in detention facilities and exploiting weaknesses in the security environment of both countries," a report to the UN security council stated.
Donald Trump's decision in October to pull troops from northern Syria, and effectively greenlight a Turkish offensive against the US' Kurdish allies, has raised concerns about the ability of security forces in the region to maintain adequate control over the more than 100,000 Isis-affiliated captives.
One vast detention facility that could be at risk is Al Hol, from which nearly 800 Isis militants' family members broke free during a Turkish offensive in the area just days after Mr Trump's decision.
The Independent's Middle East correspondent Richard Hall has just returned from a visit to the facility, where he reports that a mutiny is brewing.
Over the past few months, sharia courts have been set up by camp detainees still loyal to the terror group, Richard reports.
There has been a spate of killings targeting those who do not abide by the laws set by those courts. Riots have broken out and guards have been attacked with knives.
Nearly nine months after the defeat of the Isis caliphate, camp authorities believe the terror state lives on in this barren settlement in the plains of northeast Syria.
And it is now an open secret that there are ways out of Al Hol. Read more here:
'An attack on any one of us is an attack of all of us,' Streatham MP says
“I’m pleased to hear this morning that the three people injured in the attack will make a full recovery. My thoughts and prayers go out to victims, their friends and their families, as they attempt to heal," Bell Ribeiro-Addy said.
"Evil terror attacks like these are designed to strike fear into the very heart of diverse communities like ours. But we will not be left divided and afraid in the aftermath of such a shock.
"An attack on any one of us is an attack of all of us and I have every confidence that the people of Streatham will stand in unity as we process this weekend’s horrific events."
Ms Ribeiro-Addy – the shadow immigration minister – said she was working closely with Lambeth Council and the Met to make sure anyone affected by the attack can access the help they need.
Former terror police chief: More dangerous terrorists being released from UK prisons than returning from Syria
Sir Mark Rowley, who led British counterterror police until March 2018, said prisons needed to “get a grip” on rehabilitation, The Independent's home affairs and security correspondent Lizzie Dearden reports.
“I remember being asked by MPs a few years ago when I was in post about the threat of returning jihadis from Syria, which is a concern,” Sir Mark told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I remember saying at the time that there will be more dangerous people on the streets of the UK in the next few years coming out of UK prisons with terrorist convictions, than returning from Syria. Sadly that seems to be what’s happening at the moment.”
Neighbours describe overnight police raid in Hertfordshire
The Press Association has more detail on the raid in Bishop's Stortford:
A resident of Burley Road who witnessed the raid said the incident was "quite distressing", adding that neighbours had been "peeking out" from behind curtains as police entered the property at about 1:30am.
"It's not nice to see police raiding a house," she said. "They [the police] didn't knock the door down, it was just a general raid. Neighbours came out, everyone was concerned - obviously people are worried because of what happened last year."
The same address was also searched by counter-terrorism police in May 2018, in raids linked to Amman's initial arrest over the possession of terrorist material. But it is not clear what, if any, connection the address had to Sunday's attack.
The resident added that she did not have a bad word to say about the family living at the address.
"At the end of the day the parents are really, really nice people - they are very religious. The kids used to play outside when they were growing up," she said.
Lizzie Dearden: The government ended automatic early release for a host of terror offences in 2019
The Independent's home affairs and security correspondent reports:
Yesterday, Priti Patel said the government was planning to "stop the early release" of terror offenders.
An outline of plans was announced two weeks ago in response to the Fishmongers' Hall attack, but further measures will be announced in parliament later today.
It was not immediately clear how they would go beyond the 2019 Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act, which ended automatic early release for a host of terror offences.
But the law, which came into force last April, only applied to sentences passed after that date and Sudesh Amman had been jailed earlier.
Early release refers to the standard practice for all fixed-term or "determinate" prison sentences.
Criminals sentenced to two years or more serve half their sentence in prison and the rest in the community on licence, while under supervision.
Last year's changes meant that more terrorist offenders would be subject to extended determinate sentences, where they serve two thirds of their sentence in prison and are
assessed by the Parole Board before they can be released.
Extended sentences can be applied to a range of terror offences, including attack plots, weapons training and collecting information useful for attacks.
The justice secretary is expected to make an announcement on the subject shortly after 3:30pm.
London Ambulance Service counter reports of 30-minute wait for victim
"Our medics arrived in four minutes," the service said, adding they were told to wait until police told them they could approach the patients.
The reports appeared to stem from comedian and author Dave Chawner.
Mr Chawner told the BBC he initially thought he had heard a car backfiring.
"I turned back and turned round and saw a small group of people around a man who was on the floor who was incredibly distressed, he was holding his lower right quadrant and there was blood everywhere," he said.
"I happened to have a blanket in my bag and I gave it to them to help stem the bleeding and I ran to the nearest crossroads to wave down the ambulance."
Sean O'Grady: Expect hardline talk about longer prison sentences after the Streatham terror attack – but it is not the answer
Boris Johnson is too cynical a politician to allow the events in Streatham to pass without making some political capital out of it, particularly as the electorate will want answers anyway, comments The Independent's associate editor Sean O'Grady.
So it will be with the latest attempt to kill innocent people. Expect, then some of the usual tough sounding rhetoric in the coming days, promises of new laws and, maybe, even, some attempt to blame Labour for what happened.
One of the few concrete promises in the Conservative manifesto is to “keep terrorists in prison for longer”. Such pledges were repeated after the last terror attack in London, along with some poorly-formed plan to use lie detectors to identify those who are concealing their violent instincts.
If lie detectors are not good enough for the Jeremy Kyle show then it is not going to be sufficient to stop extremism.
The problem with all of this judicial action is that it won’t work, and will merely add to the public’s rightful indignation about the authorities’ ability to keep us safe. Delaying terror attacks is not the same as preventing them.
Read the full article here:
Police officer evacuating Streatham cafe asked to wait 30 minutes for customers to finish food
Now-viral footage shows the law enforcement agent respond: "Madam, a terrorist has been shot dead just down there, they've got a possible IED vest on them, which is a bomb."
Judicial Office shares judge's sentencing remarks from attacker's 2018 prosecution
The judiciary has posted Judge Mark Lucraft QC's sentencing remarks to Twitter, which provide detail about Sudesh Amman's state of mind and the materials in his possession when he was arrested at the age of 18.
The Independent's home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden detailed Mr Lucraft's remarks in this 2018 article:
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.