London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

Fishmongers' Hall: MI5 'had intelligence suggesting Usman Khan had been plotting'

Fishmongers' Hall: MI5 'had intelligence suggesting Usman Khan had been plotting'

MI5 had intelligence suggesting the Fishmongers' Hall killer might have been planning an attack before he was released from jail, a court has heard.

Usman Khan, 28, fatally stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones at a prisoner rehabilitation event in November 2019.

He injured two others before he was shot dead by police on London Bridge.

A pre-inquest hearing was told Khan was deemed a "high-risk category A prisoner" before his release.

He had been jailed in 2012 over a plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange.

On Friday, coroner Mark Lucraft QC heard arguments from the victims' families that individual MI5 officers should give evidence, rather than a single high-ranking officer, known as Witness A.

Nick Armstrong, for the Merritt family, said: "We do not want an overarching narrative, we want the facts, the detailed facts."

Usman Khan, who was armed with two knives and wore a fake suicide vest, was tackled by members of the public then shot dead by police on London Bridge

He added: "This is about the level of risk Mr Khan represented and the level of unknowns about the risk, and the decisions that were taken, despite those unknowns, to let him go to Fishmongers' Hall.

"The fact he was in a high-risk category A shortly before release is significant.

"He spent much of his detention in special units and went straight out into the community without proper scrutiny.

"It would not have taken much in the way of information-sharing or concern to have changed the outcome of this."

Speaking by video-link at the Old Bailey, Mr Armstrong went on: "MI5 had intelligence before release he was planning a post-release attack.

"That is a matter of obviously great significance."

There was evidence Khan had been radicalising other inmates and encouraging violence, the court heard.

The lawyer added that Khan had been suspected of "false compliance" with with de-radicalisation courses and licence conditions, and was considering relocating to Pakistan and giving up his UK nationality.



Jonathan Hough QC, counsel for the coroner, confirmed that police and probation service officers would give evidence on the decision-making in Khan's case.

If there was information not disclosed to decision-makers then Witness A could talk about that, he said.

Mr Hough went on: "Decision-makers can be asked what they would have done if that [intelligence] was brought to their attention.

"MI5 had intelligence shortly before his release he might return to his old ways on the outside, ways of terrorist offending."

Mr Lucraft set a further pre-inquest hearing for 25 March.

The full inquest into the deaths of Mr Merritt, 25, and Ms Jones, 23, is expected to take place in April. Khan's inquest will follow theirs.


Video footage shows the moment London Bridge attacker was stopped


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
×