Vigil for London Bridge terror attack victims is held in Cambridge

The devastated girlfriend of London Bridge terror attack victim Jack Merritt wept today at an emotional vigil in memory of the two people killed by a convicted terrorist on early release from prison.

Jack Merritt, 25, and fellow Cambridge University graduate Saskia Jones, 23, were both stabbed by Usman Khan during a prisoner rehabilitation event they were working at near London Bridge on Friday.

Mr Merritt’s girlfriend Leanne O’Brien cried and held a cuddly toy today as she was supported by family and friends at an event in Cambridge to remember her late boyfriend.

Miss O’Brien was at the front of a crowd of mourners this morning along with Mr Merritt’s mother Anne, who held her hand, Mr Merritt’s father David, and Miss O’Brien’s mother Mac and father Jeff.

The Cambridge vigil took place as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn stood side-by-side to pay their respects at a separate event at Guildhall Yard in London, observing a minute’s silence alongside members of the public.

It came as MPs became further embroiled in an intensifying political row over which party was to blame for the early release of the attacker, who was allowed out halfway through a 16-year jail term for terrorism.

Mr Johnson has been criticised by Mr Merritt’s father for ‘politicising’ the attack and promising tougher sentencing rules to prevent the early release of terrorists. 

But the Prime Minister today denied exploiting the terror attack for political purposes, saying: ‘Of course I feel as everybody does huge amount of sympathy for the loss of Jack Merritt’s family and all the relatives of Jack and Saskia, but be in no doubt I have campaigned against early release and short sentences for many years. It was in my manifesto in 2012… We have too many people released automatically on our streets.’

Meanwhile, shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott tweeted a quote from, and a link to, a column published by The Guardian, entitled ‘locking up extremists isn’t working in our cash-strapped prisons’.

The Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Gerri Bird, led the minute’s silence at 11am, which ended with a round of applause. Afterwards Mr Merritt’s father, David, was seen chatting to the MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner. 

Mr Zeichner said in a statement: ‘This is a real tragedy for our city. Two young people from the University of Cambridge have died needlessly in horrific circumstances. It is impossible to understand this senseless violence.

‘All our thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives and have been injured, and our thanks go to the emergency services and those who intervened at considerable risk to themselves.

Mr Merritt’s father David, an estates manager at a sixth form college and Labour activist, said last night: ‘Don’t use my son’s death, and his and his colleague’s photos – to promote your vile propaganda. Jack stood against everything you stand for – hatred, division, ignorance.’

David Merritt, who describes himself on Twitter as a ‘pragmatic left-leaning atheist’, has been repeatedly retweeting messages urging politicians against knee-jerk reactions to the London Bridge attack.  

Cambridge MP Mr Zeichner has told the Cambridge Independent: ‘This is hugely tragic for Cambridge. A young life has been taken needlessly and so much potential has been wasted. Jack’s dad is a Labour Party member so the whole Labour family feel this particularly hard.’

In London today, Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn were joined by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who called for people to come together after the killings and work for a future ‘not defined by hatred but defined by hope, unity and love’.

After a minute’s silence at 11am, he said: ‘We come together this morning as Londoners to remember, to honour and to mourn the innocent lives lost as a result of this horrific terrorist attack on Friday.’ 

He added: ‘The best way to defeat this hatred is not by turning on one another but by focusing on the values that bind us.’

The mayor thanked the public and members of the emergency services who ‘ran towards danger, risking their lives to help others they didn’t even know’. 

Mr Khan called on Londoners to ‘draw inspiration from the lives of Jack and Saskia who, from a very early age, chose to dedicate themselves to helping others’. 

He added: ‘We come together in condolence but also in a spirit of defiance to say that London will never be cowed or intimidated by terrorism.’

The ceremony was led by Bishop of London Sarah Mullally, and Mustafa Fields, director of multi-faith organisation Faith Forums for London, also spoke.

Mr Fields offered prayers for the victims and emergency services and ‘all the Muslims grieving at the attacks in the name of their faith’. After the vigil, those present entered the Guildhall to sign a book of condolences to the  victims.

Also present were Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Liberal Democrat candidate Chuka Umunna. 

Around London Bridge Underground station this morning, several whiteboards had been placed with messages of support, including: ‘Together we stand. An attack on any one of us is an attack on us all. Haters are not welcome. We are London and we won’t fall.’ 

The vigils took place as West Midlands Police said a 34-year-old man arrested in Stoke-on-Trent on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts had been recalled to prison due to a breach of his licence conditions.

He has been named in reports as Nazam Hussain, who was jailed with Usman in 2012 for terrorism offences, and like Usman had been released early on licence after successfully appealing against his original indeterminate sentence.

Officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit held him after a search of his home on Saturday. The force has said there is no information to suggest he was involved in Khan’s attack at London Bridge.

Khan, 28, also from Stoke, was on licence and wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack, which injured three others, after he was invited to the prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday afternoon.

The event was organised held by Learning Together, a programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology.

The attack has prompted the Ministry of Justice to review the licence conditions of every convicted terrorist released from prison, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was ‘probably about 74’ people.

Mr Johnson has vowed to take steps to ensure people are not released early when they commit serious offences.

But the family of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, asked for his death to not to be used to justify introducing ‘even more draconian sentences’ on offenders in a heartfelt tribute released on Sunday.

They said: ‘He lit up our lives and the lives of his many friends and colleagues, and we will miss him terribly.

‘Jack lived his principles; he believed in redemption and rehabilitation, not revenge, and he always took the side of the underdog.

‘We know Jack would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary.’

And in a tweet on Sunday evening, Mr Merritt’s father David said: ‘Don’t use my son’s death, and his and his colleague’s photos – to promote your vile propaganda.

‘Jack stood against everything you stand for – hatred, division, ignorance.’

Mr Merritt’s girlfriend, veterinary science student Miss O’Brien, learned of her boyfriend’s murder just weeks after they had enjoyed a romantic trip to Seville, Spain, to celebrate his 25th birthday. 

Miss Jones, a volunteer with Learning Together from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was described as having a ‘great passion’ for providing support to victims of crime by her family.

In a statement, they said: ‘She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.

‘Saskia had a great passion for providing invaluable support to victims of criminal injustice, which led her to the point of recently applying for the police graduate recruitment programme, wishing to specialise in victim support.’

Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the Probation Service.

Convicted of terror offences in February 2012, he was released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through his 16-year prison sentence.

He launched the fatal attack at the Learning Together event just before 2pm on Friday.

Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, he was tackled by members of the public, including ex-offenders from the conference, before he was shot dead by police.

One of the three people injured in the attack has been allowed to return home while the other two remain in a stable condition in hospital. No-one else is being sought over the attack. 

Police arrest a SECOND convicted terrorist – hours after Boris Johnson ordered crackdown on 74 freed jihadists in wake of London Bridge attack

Police have arrested a second convicted terrorist just hours after Boris Johnson ordered a crackdown on 74 jihadists who have been released early from prison.

A 23-year-old man was detained in north London yesterday on suspicion of breaching notification conditions under the Counter Terrorism Act. 

Sunday’s arrest comes after an Islamist jailed in 2012 alongside London Bridge attacker Usman Khan was dramatically held for allegedly plotting a fresh atrocity.

Nazam Hussain, 34, was detained hours after the Prime Minister announced a review into the licence conditions of 74 convicted terrorists who are now out of jail.

Metropolitan Police told MailOnline it was not able to confirm whether or not the man arrested on Sunday was among the 74 convicted jihadists under review. 

But the force confirmed the arrest ‘was not linked in any way to the London Bridge terror attack’ and that the inquiry was under way before Friday’s atrocity.

Under the Counter Terrorism Act, those convicted of certain offences must agree to notify the police of any change in details or plans to travel abroad. 

Hussain was originally jailed in 2012 as part of a terror cell which plotted to attack the London Stock Exchange and other high-profile targets in the City of London.

His arrest means new offences were allegedly discovered within hours of the review being demanded – raising serious questions about how convicted terrorists are supervised after being freed from jail.

The police move came two days after Khan, 28, murdered two people at a prisoner rehabilitation conference less than a year after being released from prison. 

His second victim was yesterday named as former Cambridge University student Saskia Jones, 23, who had recently applied to join the police.

On Sunday evening, police were seen doing a last minute search by torchlight of London Bridge before reopening it.

She had been volunteering at the conference at Fishmongers’ Hall, near London Bridge, when Khan began his rampage on Friday afternoon

Miss Jones’ family paid tribute to her ‘funny, kind, positive influence’ and said she was ‘generous to the point of always wanting to see the best in all people’.

Specialist officers from the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit arrested Hussain in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday. 

Sources confirmed he was being held ‘on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts’.

He is believed to have been freed from jail less than a year ago, at roughly the same time as Khan. In other developments it emerged that:

• Khan – who schoolfriends said used to carry a photo of Osama bin Laden – was poised to begin a course at Cambridge University;

• The authorities forced him to be accompanied by an escort on a previous trip to London in March but this time he was allowed to travel to the capital alone by train;

• The killer had been seen driving a taxi in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent;

• Britain’s most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary claimed Khan and Hussain were ‘entirely innocent’ when they were jailed for the Stock Exchange plot in 2012.

Mr Johnson yesterday pledged to toughen anti-terror laws and said it was ‘repulsive’ that someone as dangerous as Khan had served only eight years behind bars after plotting to carry out acts of terrorism.

The Prime Minister told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I think it is ridiculous, I think it is repulsive, that individuals as dangerous as this man should be allowed out after serving only eight years and that’s why we are going to change the law.’

He blamed Labour for changing to the law in 2008 so offenders serving Khan’s type of jail term were automatically released without a parole hearing after serving half of it.

‘I’m sure people can imagine what we’re doing to ensure that 74 other individuals who’ve been let out early on the basis of this Labour change in legislation, they are being properly invigilated to make sure there is no threat,’ the Prime Minister said.

Ministry of Justice officials are understood to be going through emails and phone records to ensure that licensing conditions are being met, as reported by The Telegraph. 

Mr Corbyn argued that cuts to public services had contributed to the attack on Friday. 

Khan was on licence and wearing a GPS monitoring tag when he attended the conference on prisoner rehabilitation hosted by a Cambridge University scheme called Learning Together at Fishmongers’ Hall.

The other person killed was Jack Merritt, 25, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, who worked in the university’s criminology department.

His grieving family said he was a ‘beautiful, talented boy’ who died ‘doing what he loved’. Floral tributes were placed at the scene in memory of Mr Merritt yesterday, including a sign which read: ‘I love you forever. I am so so proud of you.’

Both the victims were killed inside the building before Khan was bundled outside where he was overpowered by members of the public and then shot dead by police.

Two other victims remain in a stable condition in hospital. A third has been allowed home.

Khan had applied for a ‘continuing education’ course at Cambridge University and was due to begin studying there within weeks. 

Security services are analysing all the electronic devices seized from his address in Stafford to work out how long he had been planning the attack and whether anyone else was involved.

One Whitehall source said: ‘It is still quite a puzzle as to how someone who appeared to be a reformed character decided to do this.’

Khan was among the 3,000 terrorists being monitored by the security services, but he was not under round-the-clock surveillance, it is understood.

To have monitored him any more closely would have taken resources away from someone known to be planning an attack, sources said.

Khan and Hussain are both thought have been disciples of hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

They had both planned to travel to Pakistan in January 2011, but were arrested shortly before leaving. 

Jail time is up – so are these fanatics back on the streets?

The London Bridge killer and his ‘personal friend’ Anjem Choudary: Terrorist Usman Khan is pictured with notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary at Shariah Law conference in 2009

A picture has emerged of London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan with his ‘personal friend’ hate preacher Anjem Choudary. 

The image shows Khan, who was shot dead after fatally stabbing two people on Friday, with Choudary at a conference in Stoke-on-Trent in March 2009. 

Khan, 28, used the alias Abu Saif when he spoke alongside Choudary at the event on Sharia Law organised by a group called Ahl Sunnah Wal Jumah. 

It comes after pictures were revealed of him laughing in a brochure for the rehabilitation group that he was part of and later turned on at Fishmongers’ Hall.

He was described as a success story after working with Learning Together, a Cambridge University programme that assisted him while in prison and after his release.

But he appears to have used the scheme to be able to carry out the terror attack that killed graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23.   

Khan even wrote organisers a thank-you note after they provided him with a computer he could use without breaching his licence, as reported by The Daily Telegraph. 

In his perverse poem, Khan claimed: ‘I write so my words become a soothing light, I write so I can enter the coldest of hearts, I write so I can speak to those locked off from the world engulfed in the blinding absence of sight, I write so I can express what I feel is right.’

Meanwhile, his thank-you letter to staff claimed that the Learning Together programme had a ‘special place in [his] heart’. 

It emerged yesterday that he used to walk around school with a picture of Osama Bin Laden attached to the front of an exercise book.

Khan was also spotted laughing at videos of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York with other religious fanatics in a cafe when he was just 14.

In the same year, he started preaching Islamic extremism on the streets of Stoke on behalf of Anjem Choudary’s banned terror group al-Muhajiroun.

Khan was photographed waving an Al Qaeda flag as he ranted into a megaphone. 

The British-born son of Pakistani immigrants from the Kashmir region, he had three elder siblings – two brothers and a sister.

Despite the hard-working ethos of his taxi-driving father Taj Kahn and his mother Parveen Begum, he left Haywood High School in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, with few qualifications. 

His weekly distribution of disturbing literature resulted in his family’s modest three-bedroom terrace home in the Cobridge area of Stoke being raided by anti-terror police when he was just 17.

Shortly after the raid, an indignant Khan said: ‘I’ve been born and bred in England, in Stoke-on-Trent, in Cobridge, and all the community knows me and they will know… I ain’t no terrorist.’ 

The teenager was investigated for promoting extremist views and radicalising vulnerable people.

But after a 20-month probe, the Crown Prosecution Service told officers they were unlikely to get a conviction with the evidence they had. Instead of acting as a warning, the lack of criminal charges against Khan simply emboldened him.

He vowed: ‘We are going to carry on until the last breath, because we believe this is the truth.’

The extremist was true to his word. He spoke at a conference about why Britain should adopt Sharia law and began a campaign to stage a highly inflammatory march through the town of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, where British soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan were honoured.

Although the protest never took place, his membership of Islam4UK – another of Choudary’s banned extremist groups – prompted the security services to launch a second covert surveillance operation on him in 2010.

Bugs installed by MI5 in Khan’s home recorded him discussing how to make a pipe bomb after seeing a ‘recipe’ in an Al Qaeda magazine. He also called non-Muslims ‘dogs’, discussed buying weapons and spoke about attacking pubs and clubs in the Stoke area by leaving explosives in the lavatories.

Khan and two others, who called themselves the ‘Stoke Three’, contacted radicals in London and Cardiff on Paltalk, an internet messaging service.

The men, dubbed the ‘nine lions’, met at a Victorian boating lake in Wales to discuss how to train home-grown terrorists, embark on letter-bomb campaigns, blow up pubs and use a pipe bomb to kill and maim people at the London Stock Exchange.

Khan and others from his hometown became obsessed with the idea of setting up a terrorist training facility under the guise of creating a school on land owned by his family in Kashmir.

While the rest of the cell wanted to begin attacks immediately, the authorities were much more concerned about the sophistication displayed by the ‘Stoke Three’. 

During the subsequent trial, judge Mr Justice Wilkie found they were pursuing a ‘long-term and sustained path [to become] more serious and effective terrorists’.

After his arrest, Khan was the first to plead guilty to planning a terror camp, knowing he would get a reduction in sentence.

In 2012, he was imprisoned for public protection for 16 years but could only be considered for release if a parole board was convinced he posed no threat.

Mr Justice Wilkie singled Khan out from the other extremists on trial because he was clearly a devious and scheming man dedicated to his hateful ideology.

He wrote that Khan’s ‘ability to act on a strategic level’ and to cleverly plan for future terror attacks meant he should be released only if and when a parole board was convinced he no longer posed a threat.

But as soon as he was behind bars, Khan wrote a letter from his cell in Belmarsh prison in southeast London asking to take part in a de-radicalisation course.

‘I would like to do such a course so I can prove to the authorities, my family and soicity [sic] in general that I don’t carry the views I had before my arrest and also I can prove that at the time I was immature, and now I am much more mature and want to live my life as a good Muslim and also a good citizen of Britain,’ he wrote. 

The following year, three Appeal Court judges, led by Sir Brian Leveson, concluded it was wrong for Mr Justice Wilkie to have handed Khan and his Stoke gang members tougher sentences than their London counterparts.

Sir Brian gave Khan a determinate 16-year jail term instead, meaning he would be automatically released after eight years.

There was no assessment by the Parole Board before he left Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire in December last year. Under the terms of his licence he was required to wear an electronic tag, and was assigned a specialist anti-extremist parole officer, whom he met twice weekly.

He was ordered to live in Staitheford House bail hostel in Stafford. But months later he was able to move into a £430-a-month bedsit in a down-at-heel three storey-house nearby.

Khan joined Learning Together, a programme run by Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology that seeks to rehabilitate prisoners with workshops on story telling.

The course worked with Khan while he was in prison and after his release. 

He even wrote a poem and thank you note to the organisers after they provided him with a computer, as reported by The Telegraph.

But just months later Khan used that connection to get permission to travel to London, where he killed two people.

It is understood Mr Merritt, who was a coordinator for the course, worked with Khan while he was in prison. 

Such was his apparent turnaround, the prestigious university encouraged Khan to apply for a place as an undergraduate student.

And in an astonishing report called Learning Together by staff at Whitemoor prison, Khan’s apparent rehabilitation was used as a case study promoting its work.

Alongside a picture of the terrorist, it said: ‘We have equipped Usman with a [laptop] so that he can continue his studies and his writing, which he started in Whitemoor.’

Earlier this year, Khan attended a Whitehall event under police escort. He appeared eager and willing to engage with the Government’s Prevent and Desistance and Disengagement programmes, intended to de-radicalise extremists.

The fanatic was also invited to attend the Cambridge University criminal justice seminar near London Bridge on Friday.

He was given special dispensation to travel to London because the terms of Khan’s early release from jail meant he was not allowed to travel beyond a certain distance from his home in Stafford.

This time he was without an escort – allowing him to fatally stab two people and wound three others before being shot dead by police at the age of 28 as he lay on the bridge wearing a fake suicide vest.

Khan is thought to have travelled by train to London Euston station from Stafford railway station on Friday morning. Police retrieved the CCTV from the station within hours of the attack. Detectives have also visited the supermarkets close to his home amid concerns he bought the knives he used during the attack from one of them.

Yesterday, specialist forensic officers were seen carrying out a fingertip search of Khan’s home in Stafford, as well as his parents’ home in Etruria, a suburb of Stoke.

A team of six officers spent several hours at the new-build semi, and were seen carrying out items which were then taken away for further analysis.

Neighbours said they last saw Khan on Thursday, just 24 hours before he was shot dead by police.

They said he was in the driver’s seat of a private hire taxi and ‘acting suspiciously’ by ‘staring’ at people as they walked past. One resident, who did not want to be named, said: ‘We’ve seen him around here a bit recently. I know him because I went to the same school as him.

‘Me and my wife saw him last Thursday. He was in a private hire taxi parked round the corner from his dad’s home on the end. She noticed because she said he was staring at everyone walking past, including her. I’d seen him earlier so God knows how long he was sitting out there.

‘I’d seen him in a silver taxi before but he was in a black car last week. In the past I’ve seen him with some kids in the car. I think he was dropping them off at school.

‘It’s mad to think the day after we saw him acting strange he was on the rampage in London.’

Rhys Miller, a former classmate, wrote on Facebook: ‘Look who it is – the guy who walked around school with a picture of Osama bin Laden on the front of his planner and used to sit in the corner of the cafe with 20 of his mates watching videos of the planes going into the Twin Towers.’ He said Khan’s extremism was ‘brushed under the carpet’ and ‘blatant red flags’ were ‘ignored’.

The takeaway terrorist: Killer Usman Khan looks calm and collected as he buys a £4.99 chicken meal with a Coke just days before London Bridge knife rampage

Footage of London Bridge killer Usman Khan enjoying a takeaway just days before he carried out his horrific attack has emerged.

Khan, 28, killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, in Central London last Friday, injuring several others in his rampage. 

Now, CCTV from Staffordshire last Tuesday shows Khan eating a £4.99 chicken meal with a Coke, three days before he travelled to the capital and carried out his attack.

Khan is dressed in a high-collared grey jacket and appears to be wearing glasses with dark lenses.

He looks calm and collected as he sits alone in the takeaway, seemingly keen on keeping a low profile.   

A worker at the takeaway shop told the Mirror last night: ‘I can’t believe he was freed to kill.’ 

Khan was later spotted by neighbours on Thursday,  just 24 hours before he was shot dead by police in London after his frenzied attack.

They said he was in the driver’s seat of a private hire taxi and ‘acting suspiciously’ by ‘staring’ at people as they walked past. 

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: ‘We’ve seen him around here a bit recently. I know him because I went to the same school as him.

‘Me and my wife saw him last Thursday. He was in a private hire taxi parked round the corner from his dad’s home on the end. She noticed because she said he was staring at everyone walking past, including her. I’d seen him earlier so God knows how long he was sitting out there.

‘I’d seen him in a silver taxi before but he was in a black car last week. In the past I’ve seen him with some kids in the car. I think he was dropping them off at school.

‘It’s mad to think the day after we saw him acting strange he was on the rampage in London.’

Khan travelled to London after being invited to a prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday. 

The event was organised held by Learning Together, a programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology.

He was on licence and wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack, after being given permission to travel to the capital.

Learning Together had assisted Khan while he was in prison, as well as after his release. 

The programmed described him as a success story and Khan even wrote organisers a thank-you note after they provided him with a computer he could use without breaching his licence.

His thank-you letter to staff claimed that the Learning Together programme had a ‘special place in [his] heart’. 

It is understood that one of Khan’s victims, Mr Merritt, who was a coordinator for the course, worked with him while he was in prison.

Such was his apparent turnaround after an arrest for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange in 2010, Cambridge University encouraged Khan to apply for a place as an undergraduate student.

And in an astonishing report called Learning Together by staff at Whitemoor prison, Khan’s apparent rehabilitation was used as a case study promoting its work. 

Cambridge University vice-chancellor defends prisoner rehabilitation scheme at centre of London Bridge attack as it’s revealed two women professors who set it up witnessed the knife rampage

The vice chancellor of Cambridge University has defended the prisoner education programme at whose conference two victims of Friday’s terror attack were killed.

Former students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, were fatally stabbed by 28-year-old convicted terrorist Usman Khan during a prisoner rehabilitation event they were both supporting.

The attack unfolded at a five-year celebratory conference for Learning Together, a scheme run by Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology to allow prisoners and criminology academics to meet.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today this morning, Professor Stephen Toope, the vice chancellor of Cambridge, declined to say whether the programme would continue following the atrocity.

He said both academics who set up the scheme, Cambridge professors Ruth Armstrong and Amy Ludlow, were at the event in London’s Fishmonger’s Hall when Khan started his knife attack. 

He insisted the scheme had been held up as an example of ‘best practice’ by a 2016 review of prison education.

Prof Toope said: ‘We’re really not thinking about the future but I will say this is a programme that’s been in existence for five years. It’s done extremely good work.

‘This is a dreadful, horrible and tragic situation but we must put it in a context of five years extraordinary work.’ 

Prof Toope insisted that risk assessments had been carried out by the university, the Ministry of Justice and the Probation Service ahead of Friday’s event and other events held by the programme.

Last year, the scheme awarded four £5,000 bursaries to allow previous and current prisoners to study for an undergraduate certificate in higher education.

The schemes proponents said they believe there is ‘untapped academic talent inside the criminal justice system’. It was previously praised by former Justice Secretary Michael Gove, who said he wanted students to hear from prisoners.

Learning Together was set up in 2014 after it received a grant from Cambridge University’s Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TLIF).

Giving the grant, the fund said the pilot, allowed ‘students and offenders (to) jointly study issues around offending and reoffending, and the nature of crime and punishment.’ 

The scheme has run eight-week programmes in HMP Grendon, where students and prisoners attended sessions led by Cambridge academics looking at issues such as ‘experience of imprisonment’ and life after prison.

The scheme has since received funding by the British Academy, which is in turn receives taxpayers’ money from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Terrorist Khan joined Learning Together in prison and, such was his apparent turnaround, the prestigious university invited him to apply for a place as an undergraduate student.  

Khan’s apparent rehabilitation was used as a case study to promote its work.

Alongside a picture of the terrorist, it said: ‘He gave a speech via video at our fundraising dinner at the Institute of Continuing Education in Cambridge. We have equipped Usman with a [laptop] so that he can continue his studies and his writing, which he started in Whitemoor (prison).’

Earlier this year, Khan attended a Whitehall event under police escort. He appeared eager and willing to engage with the Government’s Prevent and Desistance and Disengagement programmes, intended to de-radicalise extremists.

Such was his apparent transformation, the fanatic was invited to attend the Cambridge University criminal justice seminar near London Bridge on Friday.

He was given special dispensation to travel to London that day because the terms of Khan’s early release from jail meant he was not allowed to travel beyond a certain distance from his home in Stafford.

This time he was without an escort – allowing him to fatally stab two people and wound three others before being shot dead by police at the age of 28 as he lay on the bridge wearing a fake suicide vest. 

Don’t use my son for your vile propaganda: London Bridge terror attack victim’s father lashes out at government for politicising his son’s death, as PM launches crackdown on early release of jihadis from jail

Boris Johnson is today facing a backlash from the father of a victim of the London Bridge terror attack for politicising the atrocity.

The Prime Minister has launched a crackdown on the treatment of convicted terrorists after 28-year-old Usman Khan went on a rampage while out of prison on licence.

Former University of Cambridge students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, were fatally stabbed during a prisoner rehabilitation event on Friday. 

Mr Johnson accused Labour of weakening the law on early release during an interview yesterday, with the Tories saying Jeremy Corbyn – who has boasted of voting against all counter-terror legislation since 1983 – is ‘soft on terrorists’.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland insisted this morning that the Labour leader had a record of ‘making excuses’ for extremists. 

The premier has vowed to take steps to ensure people are not released early when they commit serious offences.

But Mr Merritt’s father David, a schools housing manager from Cottenham and Labour activist, said last night: ‘Don’t use my son’s death, and his and his colleague’s photos – to promote your vile propaganda.

‘Jack stood against everything you stand for – hatred, division, ignorance.’ 

David Merritt, who describes himself on Twitter as a ‘pragmatic left-leaning atheist’, has been repeatedly retweeting messages urging politicians against knee-jerk reactions to the London Bridge attack. 

The family of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, asked yesterday that his death not be used to justify introducing ‘even more draconian sentences’ on offenders in a heartfelt tribute. 

The criticism came amid an extraordinary blame game over the latest tragedy on the streets of London three days ago. 

Khan was on licence and wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack, which injured three others, after he was invited to the prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday afternoon.

The event was organised held by Learning Together, a programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology.

The attack has prompted the Ministry of Justice to review the licence conditions of every convicted terrorist released from prison, which Mr Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday said was ‘probably about 74’ people.

Mr Johnson has vowed to take steps to ensure people are not released early when they commit serious offences.

Mr Corbyn also made a speech on the terrorism threat yesterday, saying Western aggression and austerity was responsible for fuelling the problems, and convicted terrorists should ‘not necessarily’ serve their full sentences. 

David Merritt has been repeatedly retweeting messages urging politicians against knee-jerk reactions to the London Bridge attack.

While he is believed to be a Labour supporter, he also retweeted a post from Sky News’ Kay Burley criticising both Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn for using the attack as a ‘campaigning tool’.

Labour’s election candidate in Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, told the Cambridge Independent: ‘This is hugely tragic for Cambridge. A young life has been taken needlessly and so much potential has been wasted. Jack’s dad is a Labour Party member so the whole Labour family feel this particularly hard.’ 

Pressed during a campaign event at London’s Finsbury Park station over whether released terror convicts should be reassessed and serve their full sentences, the Labour leader said it is ‘quite right to look at every case’.

He said: ‘I think terrorists should be sentenced, as they are, and they should be released as and when they have completed a significant proportion of their sentence and they’ve undergone rehabilitation and they are considered safe to the public as a whole. 

‘I do think that continuing with the process allows people to be released ahead of final complete of their sentence if they’ve been rehabilitated and they have been suitably assessed and they are very strictly monitored when they come out – I think that must be the correct way of doing things. 

‘There are enormous questions to be learned from this terrible event that happened last week and that is, what happened in the prison with this particular individual, what assessment was made of his psychological condition before he was released and also what supervision and monitoring he was under after coming out?’ 

In a statement yesterday, family of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, asked for his death to not to be used to justify introducing ‘even more draconian sentences’ on offenders in a heartfelt tribute released yesterday.

They said: ‘He lit up our lives and the lives of his many friends and colleagues, and we will miss him terribly.

‘Jack lived his principles; he believed in redemption and rehabilitation, not revenge, and he always took the side of the underdog.

‘We know Jack would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary.’ 

Miss Jones, a volunteer with Learning Together from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was described as having a ‘great passion’ for providing support to victims of crime by her family.

In a statement, they said: ‘She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.

‘Saskia had a great passion for providing invaluable support to victims of criminal injustice, which led her to the point of recently applying for the police graduate recruitment programme, wishing to specialise in victim support.’

Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the probation service.

Convicted of terror offences in February 2012, he was released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through his 16-year prison sentence.

But the Tories and Labour have been clashing bitterly over who was responsible for the failure in the systems. 

Mr Johnson has argued that the Labour government failed to bolster laws after ‘indeterminate” sentences were ruled illegal by the courts.

But Mr Corbyn has pointed to cuts in rehabilitation services and said police numbers should rise.  

A Sentencing Bill included in the Queen’s Speech in October, which became defunct once the election was called, would have changed the automatic release point from halfway to two thirds for adult offenders serving sentences of four years or more for serious violence or sexual offences.

Judges can already impose extended sentences for offenders assessed as ‘dangerous’, where they will serve two thirds, but the proposed legislation would make the longer jail terms mandatory for certain offences. 

Police have made the first arrest in a new blitz on convicted terrorists who are free to walk our streets.

An Islamist jailed alongside London Bridge killer Usman Khan was dramatically held for allegedly plotting a fresh atrocity.

Nazam Hussain, 34, was detained just hours after Boris Johnson announced a top-level review into the licence conditions of 74 convicted terrorists who are now out of jail.

Hussain was originally jailed in 2012 as part of a terror cell which was plotting to attack the London Stock Exchange and other high-profile targets in the City of London.

His arrest means new offences were allegedly discovered within hours of the review being demanded – raising serious questions about how convicted terrorists are supervised after being freed from jail.

Specialist officers from the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit arrested Hussain in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday. 

Sources confirmed he was being held ‘on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts’.

He is believed to have been freed from jail less than a year ago, at roughly the same time as Khan. 

Usman launched the fatal attack at the Learning Together event just before 2pm on Friday.

Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, he was tackled by members of the public, including ex-offenders from the conference, before he was shot dead by police.

One of the three people injured in the attack has been allowed to return home while the other two remain in a stable condition in hospital.

No-one else is being sought over the attack.

A vigil will be held later to pay tribute to the victims of the terror attack and to honour the emergency services and members of the public who responded to the incident. 

The remembrance service at Guildhall Yard comes as West Midlands Police said a 34-year-old man arrested in Stoke-on-Trent on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts has been recalled to prison due to a suspected breach of his licence conditions.

Officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit held the man after a search of his home on Saturday.

The force has said that there is no information to suggest he was involved in the incident at London Bridge.

Oxford University suspends its prison literature course that London Bridge terror victim Jack Merritt was due to open today

Oxford University has suspended its prison literature course which was due to be opened this morning by a London Bridge terror attack victim.

Ex-Cambridge student Jack Merritt, 25, was due to speak to 100 undergraduates at Balliol College about the scheme at HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire.

But he and Saskia Jones, 23, were fatally stabbed on Friday by convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, during a prisoner rehabilitation event near London Bridge.

The course was due to organised by Learning Together, a prison education programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology.

A spokesman for Balliol College tweeted today: ‘Jack Merritt was due this morning at Balliol to talk to 100 enthused undergraduates about a proposed literature course at HMP Grendon. We remember Jack’s passionate commitment to helping others.’ 

Mr Merritt, who had a master’s degree from Cambridge University, had been working as a course co-ordinator at the university’s Learning Together programme alongside Khan.

Before studying law at Manchester University, Mr Merritt attended schools in Cambridge, where he lived with parents Anne and David and younger brother Joe. 

From Manchester, he returned to his home city, completing a master’s degree in philosophy. Mr Merritt shared details of his work with prisoners on Twitter.

In September last year, he wrote of the ‘exciting news’ that he was ‘welcoming students with criminal convictions to study undergraduate certificates… to improve inclusivity in our university’.

The family of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, have asked for his death to not to be used to justify introducing ‘even more draconian sentences’ on offenders in a heartfelt tribute.

They said in a statement issued yesterday: ‘He lit up our lives and the lives of his many friends and colleagues, and we will miss him terribly.

‘Jack lived his principles; he believed in redemption and rehabilitation, not revenge, and he always took the side of the underdog. 

‘We know Jack would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary.’

And in a tweet yesterday evening, Mr Merritt’s father David said: ‘Don’t use my son’s death, and his and his colleague’s photos – to promote your vile propaganda.

‘Jack stood against everything you stand for – hatred, division, ignorance.’

The attack has prompted the Ministry of Justice to review the licence conditions of every convicted terrorist released from prison, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was ‘probably about 74’ people.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said any of the individuals concerned who was found to be in breach of their licence conditions would be recalled to prison.  

Mr Buckland said an order had already been issue preventing prisoners on early release attending events such as that where Khan carried out his attack.

Mr Johnson has vowed to take steps to ensure people are not released early when they commit serious offences. 

Miss Jones, a volunteer with Learning Together from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was described as having a ‘great passion’ for providing support to victims of crime by her family.

In a statement, they said: ‘She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.

‘Saskia had a great passion for providing invaluable support to victims of criminal injustice, which led her to the point of recently applying for the police graduate recruitment programme, wishing to specialise in victim support.’

Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the Probation Service. 

Convicted of terror offences in February 2012, he was released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through his 16-year prison sentence.

He launched the fatal attack at the Learning Together event just before 2pm on Friday.

Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, he was tackled by members of the public, including ex-offenders from the conference, before he was shot dead by police.

One of the three people injured in the attack has been allowed to return home while the other two remain in a stable condition in hospital. No-one else is being sought over the attack.