Westminster Terror Attack Panorama


Westminster Terror Attack

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Five days ago, terror came here, to the heart of London, killing and

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maiming indiscriminately. There is a breaking news story over at

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Westminster Palace. We are getting reports of an incident outside the

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Palace of Westminster. Breaking news, there are reports of gunshots

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being heard outside the Houses of Parliament. At 2.39 last Wednesday

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afternoon, Khalid Masood was seemingly just another London

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motorist. Seconds later, he was a killer, driving his rented car onto

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the pavement, ploughing into pedestrians on one of London's

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busiest bridges. A tour guide, Adrian Istoria, saw it all. There

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was screaming, like you never thought you would hear that, or

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never prepared to see something like that. Those kind of expressions,

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like, Jesus, help us, those expressions. Everything covered with

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screaming and crying. He has mown down about three people

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on Westminster Bridge. American tourists Kurt and Melissa Cochran

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with the first to be hit. They were in London celebrating their 25th

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wedding anniversary. A second later, a CCTV camera filmed Masood

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continuing to career along the pavement at speed. Did you see the

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car hit anybody? Yes, I did. The impact of Masood's car hurled

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29-year-old Andreea Cristea into the River Thames. The Romanian architect

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was later rescued, but suffered serious head injuries. The car

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ploughed on, through the people on the bridge. I saw my first friend in

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front, he left out of the way. Then I saw this black shape coming

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towards me. I thought, that's a car. I felt sharp pain on my head.

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18-year-old politics student Owen Lambert had just left the House of

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Commons after a tour and was sightseeing on the bridge with

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friends. I was spun around, then I was on the floor, on top of my

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friend. I saw blood on his neck. I said to him, you are bleeding. He

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gestured to me, he looked at me. He said... Well, he didn't say

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anything, he looked at me, I put my hand to my head and realised it

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wasn't his blood, it was mine. When he reaches the security barriers at

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the end of the bridge, Masood is forced back onto the road. Driving

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around those security barriers, Masood then aims his car at a more

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pedestrians by the railings, round Parliament. Then he smashes into

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them. In this moment, you go numb. I thought, when is this going to stop

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now? It is becoming clear to those around that something is badly

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wrong. At ease traffic lights, Carl might is listening to music on his

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headphones, on the top of a number 159 bus, when he hears a bang. --

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Carl Knight. It sounded like a really loud backfire of a car. That

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is the best way I could describe it. I thought, what the hell? That is

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when I turned around to see this car, and the front end of it was

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completely crushed in. Then I saw two bodies on the floor. Mon dieu!

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My God! He then saw Khalid Masood get out of the smashed a car. He

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opens the door, he stands up, dazed, a little bit unsteady on his feet,

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looking around. Carl Knight was still watching from the top of the

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number 159 bus. He said Masood, after crashing his hire car, armed

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with two knives, moved towards a woman with a child against the

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railings here. She screamed at the knifeman not to hurt them. You know

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what, you can tell a mother's love for a child in that moment. She

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wrapped itself around this child, as if to protect it. Masood then

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started moving around this corner, towards the eastern entrance to the

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Palace of Westminster. At that point, he began gathering pace. He

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went from jogging to charging. There was a person that he pushed out of

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the way. He could have used the knife, but he didn't. He pushed. His

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view was briefly obscured. But Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts saw

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what happened next from his office window, overlooking the yard in

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front of Big Ben. We saw members of the public, pedestrians in the

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street, running in apparent terror, screaming, away from some source of

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violence. A second later, I saw the source of violence, a thickset man

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in dark clothes. He was running towards a police officer in a

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high-vis jacket. You could see him stabbing the police officer. He done

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it about five times. That police officer was PC Keith Palmer. That

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lasted all of one and a half seconds, I would say. It was very

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quick. It was a violent, deranged movement. The police officer got off

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his knees and ran to the other side, as if he was going around the

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roundabout, that way. The attacker followed. Of the police appeared,

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including two plainclothed figures. They issued a challenge of some

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sort. I couldn't hear what it was, but I could hear that they shouted

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at the man. He ignored them and kept walking, or running towards them.

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Then you heard two shots and then another one afterwards. It was like

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pop, pop, pop. Masood was fatally wounded, shot, it is believed, by

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two members of the ministerial security unit. It had been just 82

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seconds from his car first mounting the pavement on Westminster Bridge

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to him being shot. Near to Masood laid PC Palmer, an officer with 15

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years experience. You don't expect gunshots in Westminster. I looked up

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to see what had happened and realised there were two people on

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the floor and a handful of policeman around them. Former Army captain and

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Afghanistan veteran Mike Crofts, in Parliament for a meeting, now

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emerged from behind a car, where he was taking cover. He rushed over to

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help PC Palmer. I tried to assess his wounds as best as possible. I'm

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not a doctor. I looked back towards the Palace of Westminster and

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screamed for a medic. He was joined shortly after by police, security

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guards and Bournemouth MP Tobias Ellwood, himself a former Army

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officer. He brought with him a good sense of calm. Immediately we

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started to work on PC Palmer together to try to help him. You

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were trying to resuscitating? Yes. Medics also worked to save Masood.

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Nothing could be done for either of the men. Unfortunately, PC Palmer

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died, despite our best efforts. He sacrificed himself for everyone

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else. Less than an hour before the attacks, PC Palmer had been posing

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for tourist pictures. Moments later, he was defending Parliament from a

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terror attack. He really was heroic. Being a barrier between himself and

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Parliament. There were a large number of people exiting Parliament

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at that time. It frightens me to think what would have happened if

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the attacker had got into the crowd. Over on the bridge, the scene was

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one of horror. Owen Lambert was lucky. He had a minor head injury

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and bruised leg. I looked down the bridge towards where the car had

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come from. There were people lying down, people in the road, cars had

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stopped. There was lots of debris everywhere, blood, lots of blood.

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About 50 people had been hit by Masood's Park. Some had catastrophic

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injuries. Kurt Cochran, the American tourist, died. His wife, Melissa,

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survived. Aysha Frade, a mother on her way to pick up two children from

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school, was killed. 75-year-old Leslie Rhodes was the oldest to die.

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In the House of Commons, MPs were completely unaware of the terror

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unfolding outside. That soon changed. Parliament went into

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lockdown. Order. I am now going to suspend the sitting of the house.

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This house is now suspended, but please wait here. Prime Minister

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Theresa May was in the voting lobby. MP Andrew Bridgen was just feet away

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when he saw plainclothed police officers approach her. I heard her

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say, oh, he put his arm around her and very rapidly guided her out of

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the back of the chamber and away. The Prime Minister was taken to her

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armoured car in the speaker's courtyard. Everybody was looking out

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the windows. You could see two plainclothes bodyguards with

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automatic weapons, standing either side of the archway in speakers

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courtyard, covering while the Prime Minister got into her car.

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So, how did a polite schoolboy who loved sport and music turn into a

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killer? Khalid Masood was born in Dartford in Kent on Christmas Day

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1964. The name on his birth certificate, Adrian Russell Elms. As

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a teenager, he called himself Adrian Ajoa as well, taking his

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stepfather's name. By the early 90s, he was living a seemingly

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middle-class life in the Home Counties with his then partner, Jane

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Harvey. The couple worked alongside each other in a rental property

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owned by the Eastwood family. I didn't have a long conversation with

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him. It was apparent that the meeting that she was the leading

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person within the business and that he was more there to support her in

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the physical side of lifting and moving objects around. I met him 15

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years ago. Seemed to me he was quite tall and physically well built.

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Almost quite normal, in a way. He didn't seem aggressive or anything,

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until he obviously knifed our local landlord. One minute he's cool, the

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next minute he is violent, you know? He was like Jekyll and bloody Hyde.

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Incredible fella. Fred Lawrence was with Adie, as he called him, when,

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aged 36, Masood slashed a landlord's face with a knife in a pub car park

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in East Sussex. He drew his knife out, he went for him, cut his face

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and my son grabbed him. My son is big, luckily, to be honest with you,

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think you would have done him. I saw him, and he had the knife. I was

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walking towards him and thought, he's in a completely different frame

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of mind. It was a completely different person, it was an animal.

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The landlord needed 20 stitches and Masood got nearly three years in

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prison. Jay loved him to bits and stuck up for him so many times, she

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always tried to stick up for him. She wanted to help them. But the

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couple, who had two daughters, split up after Masood was jailed for the

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knife attack. In 2003, he was in prison again. An another man in the

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face outside this care home in Eastbourne. How many of us know

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other people around us? We deal with them, we work with them, we may be

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socialise with them. Do we know them that well? Fred remembers Masood as

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a troubled man, haunted by the colour of his skin. He said to me, I

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don't like myself. He said, I don't like my skin. He said, I feel that

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I'm not right, I'm not in the right body. I would say he was troubled in

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himself. I think the sort of alienation we are seeing with him

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when we are looking around the questions of race, it does fit with

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people from his generation. We can see a whole generation of older

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individuals involved in the jihadists mileau in the UK that very

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much felt that racism first-hand. The whole country will want to know

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who was responsible for this atrocity. Mr Speaker, it is still

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believed that this attack acted alone and the police have no reason

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to believe there are imminent further attacks on the public. His

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identity is known to the police and MI5. He was once investigated in

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relation to concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral

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figure. The so-called Islamic State claimed

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Masood Masood was one of their soldiers but they didn't claim to be

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behind the Westminster attack. He is not a soldier, I would more describe

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him as somebody who has been exploited and a man who is clearly a

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lone actor, who has come up from the basement so to speak to commit a

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murderous and cowardly attack. Adrian Elms became Khalid Masood

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aged 40. 12 years later he attacked London.

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He seems to be someone who adopted these ideas later in life. His age

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of 52 puts him at the elder end of the spuct but it is not unheard of.

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We don't know when Masood converted to Islam or when he became

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radicalised. One former close friend told us he believes it started in

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Masood 's late 30s, in prison. It was after 9/11, and Al-Qaeda

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extremists were being rounded up. So we know there are senior Al-Qaeda

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operatives who have been convicted before who target vulnerable I'm in

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prisons. And either offer them protection or, often they will take

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advantage, some times of mental health issues, there are can be a

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range of factors involved in radicalisation.

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Hannah's research suggests religious converted are more likely to pose a

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danger. Converts are involved in

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bio-terrorism so there are many more converts among the offenders we saw

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over the last 20 years than among the Muslim population in the UK at

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large. After he was released from prison,

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Masood went to Saudi Arabia, several times, teaching English. But there

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is no evidence he was add collide cloudy skied there.

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-- #r5d cloudy skied there. Saudi Arabia isn't a place one would think

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of for this, I think we have seen most individuals from the British

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radical milieu tend to radicalise here.

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When he returned, to the UK, Masood moved around, living in East London,

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Crawley, Birmingham, and Luton. All places which have been linked to

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terror plots. Masood settled in Luton with a new

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partner and one of the daughters from his press conference

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relationship. He reportedly converted her to Islam.

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I think Luton is a place which is unfortunately developed a fair

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profile nationally as a place where there are problems with

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radicalisation, so it has a long history of these radical community,

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congregating in that area. At that time, Luton was home to a

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convicted extremist who made this video, scouting Parliament as a

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terror target. Masood lived round the corner from the extremist and we

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have been told he had social contact with other people from the area.

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From Luton, there were moves to East London, and then Birmingham. Masood,

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his partner and their children moved into the Winson Green area, last

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year. Neighbours found him friendly, but

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reserved. He was a normal person, normal

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father, or husband, family man. What I've seen he was very calm. What I

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notice he was like, he liked to take care of his garden.

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Khalid Masood lived here in this quiet residential street for round

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eight month, until a couple of months ago, the man who neighbours

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said had a London accent, left a abruptly with his family. They

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didn't say goodbye, or where they were going.

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I had just seen a van parked in front of his garage, and just the

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garage open and take out thing, not big furniture, just some things,

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some stuff and then he disappeared, just in the night.

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269 people were convicted of Islamic terror offences in Britain or killed

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themselves as suicide bombers between 1998 and 2015.

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39 of them were from Birmingham. Masood's connection to Birmingham is

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interesting. My research showed that primacy of London and Birmingham as

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the offenders' last known place of residence, Birmingham if particular,

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the number of offenders coming from there has increased rapidly.

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Two men from Birmingham, arrested following Masood's attack are still

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being held on suspicion of terror offences.

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One of the city's MPs was in Parliament when it was locked down.

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I felt very uneasy that my city again has links to this sort of

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attack, and I was really very disappointed, personally that this

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had happened, because this is not the reputation I want for my city.

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Birmingham's had a problem with radicalisation and we need to

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address that. Good afternoon Birmingham. Two days

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ago, Birmingham's Muslim community gathered to show their condemnation

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of the attack. A Muslim prayer for our nation, oh Lord, unite our

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nation round the principles of justice, peace, love and faith.

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You don't want to go to work in the morning when these things happen,

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because it is happening again, we will be associated with it. It is

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that dread when you hear of an atrocity, let it be anybody but a

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Muslim. There is that feeling of you will have to to explain, you will

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have to distance yourself, because whether you like it or not you are

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associated with it. In Birmingham, there is confused as

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everyone else as to why Masood did it. He wasn't one of them. His

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profile as an offender fits some of the patterns be see, he is

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travelling round, he doesn't want his one location to be fixated and

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therefore lots of people who supposedly know him don't know him,

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because they say he seemed a nice friendly guy but they weren't able

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to talk to him. That is a typical offender profile in how terrorists

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move round. Thank you the organisers for today.

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Though his neighbours knew Masood had upped sticks and gone, had he

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left Birmingham? He used an address on the city's Hagley Road when he

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rented the car he drove to London. Six days before he attacked

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Westminster, Khalid Masood rented a car, from this firm in Birmingham.

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It was a grey Hyundai 4x4. A big and is heavy car. Car. Enterprise say

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they identified the vehicle, when they saw pictures of the attack and

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recognised the license plate. And they immediately contacted the

:22:57.:23:00.

authorities. The night before the attack, Masood

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stayed in Brighton, just 64 miles from Westminster.

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He was very friendly, smiling, and really nothing suspicious about the

:23:13.:23:15.

person, he was a normal guest who wanted to stay at the hotel.

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On Wednesday March 22nd, Masood headed for London.

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One main line of police inquiry we have learned is his activities on

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social media ming in the days leading up to and on the day of the

:23:39.:23:43.

attack. Who was he communicating with? We know that some of the

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platforms they use in social media are so heavily increpted it is

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difficult to understand who is reading what. And what we need to do

:23:52.:23:56.

is make sure that the companies, the IT companies that own those

:23:57.:24:02.

platforms are responsible. Whether or not Masood had

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accomplices, would be extremists can find inspiration and advice online.

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The Islamic State is now encouraging the use of knives and vehicles, in

:24:14.:24:19.

low tech terror attacks. What we have seen from across

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Europe, from France, from Belgium, people can, with very little low

:24:26.:24:29.

tech capability, arm themselves with knives, get into a large vehicle or

:24:30.:24:34.

a car, and if they have that murderous intent, they can commit

:24:35.:24:38.

these types of offences. Now that is a real shift, that is a real

:24:39.:24:42.

challenge for all of us. Previously you had to target public transport

:24:43.:24:47.

and do these big dramatic thing, now groups have realised this sort of a

:24:48.:24:51.

basic attack is just as effective, and will get just as much attention.

:24:52.:25:03.

So how should the police respond? PC Palmer was particle's first line of

:25:04.:25:08.

defence but he was unarmed. Should he have been armed? There is

:25:09.:25:12.

bound to be questions over whether anything would have been different

:25:13.:25:15.

if there were more armed police officers there, if PC Palmer had a

:25:16.:25:18.

gun. We will never know the answer to that, but what I think is

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important, is that there is many tactical options in terms of dealing

:25:23.:25:25.

with violent threat. One is firearms. The idea that suddenly

:25:26.:25:32.

arming a police officer will protect them from a sudden violent attack by

:25:33.:25:36.

a person who appears otherwise when they first approach, to be acting

:25:37.:25:41.

innocently, I think that may be a little bit fanciful. So I am not

:25:42.:25:45.

sure that arming police officers on the gate is necessarily going to be

:25:46.:25:48.

what the police think is the right solution.

:25:49.:25:51.

We have to go with the threats that we are currently dealing with, and I

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think MPs have to take the advice of the professionals in the police

:25:57.:26:00.

service, in terms of what we can do. This idea the traditional view of

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the British Bobby, wearing that helmet and walking on the street and

:26:05.:26:08.

that kind of stuff. We don't live in that world any more.

:26:09.:26:13.

Security at the Palace of Westminster is now being reviewed.

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But is it ever possible to counter these sos of attacks? I think we

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have been astonishing fortunate in the last few year, because our

:26:25.:26:29.

security services have been very agile at stopping plots but I think

:26:30.:26:34.

we have to accept that you can't prevent a lone actor who decides one

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morning that the time has come for him to go out and kill other human

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beings to make some sort of statement.

:26:42.:26:46.

13 people are still in hospital, following last week's attack.

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Whatever motivated Masood, he caused devastation with just a hire car and

:26:52.:26:55.

two knives. Such a simple thing, someone driving

:26:56.:26:59.

a car, across a bridge, with a couple of knives in his car. Then,

:27:00.:27:06.

he caused so much damage, and no-one can defend against that. No-one.

:27:07.:27:11.

My thoughts are with the families who have lost people, and their

:27:12.:27:15.

friends and their colleagues, it is deeply sad and been driven by a man

:27:16.:27:21.

who has become extremely angry and isolated within society. I don't

:27:22.:27:24.

want to blame anyone. I want us to make sure we are thankful for what

:27:25.:27:28.

we have, for the people that are still alive, and the people who are

:27:29.:27:32.

currently recovering. We should sort of try and unify

:27:33.:27:36.

through that, through love and compassion, rather than through our

:27:37.:27:39.

hatred and anger about what happened.

:27:40.:27:48.

While the public pay their respects outside Parliament, the police are

:27:49.:27:54.

appealing for any information about the attacker.

:27:55.:28:00.

Without that, they say, they might never know why Khalid Masood brought

:28:01.:28:02.

terror to London.

:28:03.:28:07.

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