London attack: Khalid Masood's mother speaks out

  • 28/03/2017
London attack
(File)

The mother of Khalid Masood - the man who killed four people in last week's London attack, has spoken out of her sadness at what her son has done.

Janet Ajao released a statement saying: "I am so deeply shocked, saddened and numbed by the actions my son has taken that have killed and injured innocent people in Westminster.

"Since discovering that it was my son that was responsible I have shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrendous incident.

"I wish to make it absolutely clear, so there can be no doubt, I do not condone his actions nor support the beliefs he held that led to him committing this atrocity.

"I wish to thank my friends, family and community from the bottom of my heart for the love and support given to us."

British police have found no evidence that Masood had any association with Islamic State or al-Qaeda, but say he was clearly interested in jihad.

Masood drove a car through a crowd of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge outside the UK parliament, killing three and injuring about 50. He then ran through the gates of parliament and fatally stabbed a police officer, before he was shot dead by police.

Neil Basu, senior national coordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing, said there was no evidence that Masood had been radicalised in prison in 2003 and it was pure speculation to suggest that had happened.

Masood, 52, was British-born and had several previous convictions for offences such as grievous bodily harm, possession of a knife and public order offences. He had not been convicted of any terrorism offence.

"His attack method appears to be based on low sophistication, low tech, low cost techniques copied from other attacks, and echo the rhetoric of IS leaders in terms of methodology and attacking police and civilians, but at this stage I have no evidence he discussed this with others," Mr Basu said in a statement.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday that technology companies should cooperate more with law enforcement agencies and should stop providing "a secret place for terrorists to communicate" using encrypted messages.

Media have reported that Masood sent an encrypted message moments before the attack.

"There has been much speculation about who Masood was in contact with immediately prior to the attack," Mr Basu said. "All I will say on this point is that Masood's communications that day are a main line of enquiry."

Reuters / Newshub.