London Bridge: Attacker named as Usman Khan

Posted By: Voice of London 30 November 2019

The suspect of the London Bridge attack has been named after a tweet was posted by the Metropolitan Police.

The Met said: “We are now in a position to confirm the identity of the suspect as 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been residing in the Staffordshire area.

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“As a result, officers are, tonight carrying out searches at an address in Staffordshire.”

The individual is responsible for the deaths of a man, woman, and injuring three others during a stabbing attack. He was shot dead by police on London Bridge as onlookers watched.

Usman Khan

The Met went on to confirm that the man had been known to them after having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences. He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence.

Members of the public jumped in to restrain Khan as police tried to de-escalate the situation.

The Daily Mail reported one of those heroes as convicted murderer, James Ford, from Willesborough Ashford, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for the murder of Amanda Champion, a 21-year-old young woman with learning difficulties.

The Mail said, Amanda’s aunt, Angela Cox, was alerted of Ford’s involvement by Kent Police. She told them: “He is not a hero. He is a murderer out on day release, which us as a family didn’t know anything about.

“He murdered a disabled girl. He is not a hero, absolutely not.”

Witnesses spoke to VOL about what they experienced throughout the day.

A London bus driver, who asked not to be named, said: “At 2:30 I got a call from central control saying to terminate the services at London Bridge.

“When I got to London Bridge, because of heavy traffic, I advised the controller that we couldn’t turn, so turn most of the buses to Elephant and Castle, but then afterwards I saw a lot of police activities.

“A few minutes after that, I was speaking with one of my colleagues. We heard two gun shots, we heard a lot of people screaming and running towards us, so we decided to run as well so that’s basically what we saw and heard.

“A lot of people running, we heard the gun shots, we heard a lot of people screaming and a lot of people running in this direction towards Southwark Bridge Road.

“My bus is one of the buses at the front if you can see with the hazard lights on. That’s where I was stationed at the junction between Southwark Street and Borough High Street.”

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Emilia, 28, and her husband Yazin, 31, arrived at Borough Market thirty minutes before panic erupted.

She said: “We just came out of Borough Market, my husband and I got separated and I ran into a restaurant called Arthur Hooper’s who looked after me really, really well.

Her husband said: “I ran out away from that spot and went back to look for her. When I got there, a stampede was going on and people were being crushed so I got down because I knew there was some shooting going on.”

Emilia added: “We could hear shots.” 

“Yeah I believe two shots or something,” said her husband. “So I ran and I got out from the exit on Park Lane and then I called her and she was in that shop.”

His wife said: “I didn’t know whether it was the police or some guy with a gun coming after us, but yeah we are safe now.”

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Words: Michelle Del Rey | Subbing: Niamh Hutchings  

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