The London Metropolitan Police have released a selection of surveillance camera footage showing the movements of Khalid Masood driving a vehicle into pedestrians along Westminster Bridge on March 22, 2017.
This footage, shown in court on Sept. 19, as part of an Old Bailey inquest into the deaths of the victims, reveals glimpses of Masood at a Birmingham Tesco purchasing kitchen knives on March 9, which he would later use to kill Police Constable Keith Palmer.
During the attack, Palmer scuffled with Masood and prevented him from entering the Palace of Westminster, giving other officers time to arrive at the scene and shoot Masood dead.
The video also shows Masood at a Birmingham vehicle hire company on March 16, picking up the rented car that he would use for the attack.
The video then shows him conducting reconnaissance along Westminster Bridge on March 18, visiting a Days Inn Hotel in Surrey on March 18, stopping by a Sainsbury’s and a fish and chips shop in Brighton on March 21, and finally carrying out additional reconnaissance on Westminster Bridge March 22.
A Violent Criminal History
The inquest heard details of Masood’s violent criminal history, stretching all the way back to 1983 when he was 19-years-old, according to media reports.Masood was born as Adrian Russell Ajao in 1964, and was raised by his mother is Janet Ajao, his stepfather, and two stepbrothers.
His first arrest was for shoplifting, aged 14, receiving only a caution. At the time, Janet Ajao, Masood’s mother, passed it off as “normal boisterous behaviour,” but his two stepbrothers said he was violent.
While studying a business studies course in Tonbridge College at the age of 16, Ajao was concerned with Masood drinking and looking for fights when he went out. His mother said he was “an angry person” and had a fear that he could kill someone.
Masood was arrested at the age of 23 on suspicion of possession of offensive weapon and using threatening words or behaviour causing fear of violence.
The next year, Masood was arrested for assault after hitting someone in the face due to an incident involving a bus. The case didn’t go to trial.
He then met Jane Harvey in 1990 and had two children with her. Harvey said that he was “an intelligent, powerful, persuasive and charming person,” but she always had to call his mother for help when he started drinking.
One ex-girlfriend described him to the police as “obsessive, intelligent, and narcisstic,” according to the Telegraph. She added that he “would have loved the attention and fear that he caused,” and that he used Islam as ‘'a front and an excuse to hurt people.”
Masood first encountered Islam when he went to jail and read the Koran in jail in the early 2000’s. But he showed no signs of extreme beliefs. His relationship with Harvey ended at this time due to the “ongoing domestic abuse,” the Telegraph reported.
He again showed some interest in Islam in 2003.
According to the police there was “no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack,” the inquest heard.
However, the authorities knew about him due to his previous convictions and offences, but none of them were linked to terrorism.
Following the attack last year, Prime Minister Theresa May said the MI5 had investigated Masood and categorised him as a “peripheral” figure. May added that at the time “he was not part of the current intelligence picture.”
The inquest continues.
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