Witness describes aftermath of Fishmongers´ Hall attack as new images emerge

Fishmongers’ Hall attacker Usman Khan seemed ‘a little shy’ and did nothing to raise suspicions in the minutes before he stabbed two people to death, an inquest jury heard today.

Cambridge University graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were killed by the convicted terrorist at a prisoner rehabilitation conference near London Bridge on November 29, 2019.

As an inquest continued today, a fresh image showed Khan standing yards away from Mr Merritt only three hours before murdering him, while a second showed him sitting just one seat away from his second victim Miss Jones.

The video still showing Khan and Mr Merritt was captured at 11.08am, nearly three hours before the terrorist launched his attack at 1.57pm, stabbing him multiple times and causing 12 injuries including a fatal chest wound. 

Khan, 28, who was armed with two knives and wore a fake suicide vest, was tackled by members of the public with a decorative pike, narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher, and then shot dead by police on London Bridge. 

At the inquest today, barrister Catherine Jaquiss, who shared a table with Khan at the Learning Together anniversary event, said he had told how he had been going down the wrong path in life but had changed his ways.

Ms Jaquiss told jurors that she had invited Khan to come and sit at a table to take part in a group discussion during a workshop. Asked how he seemed, she said: ‘Perhaps a little shy. 

‘I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at all at the time. I remember him saying something to the effect of he had been involved with a group of people who had been leading him down the wrong path.

‘He had now seen that way was wrong and he was now essentially turning the other way or going a different way.’

A statement from Millicent Grant, a legal executive who sat at a nearby table, said: ‘He wasn’t animated, he was sat back in his chair, straight faced and with a clear, steady voice.’

Khan was wearing a padded jacket at the conference, and jurors heard a statement from Cambridge PhD student Benjamin Jarman, who had planned to ask him if he was warm.

In his evidence, read by counsel to the inquest Aaron Moss, Mr Jarman said: ‘He was looking anxious… I was going to ask him where he was from and mention he must have been warm in his coat.’

It was later discovered that Khan was wearing a fake suicide vest.

Ms Jaquiss said that after a refreshment break at the end of the workshop, she heard screaming and grunting coming from downstairs in the building.

The barrister, who knew Mr Merritt from her previous involvement with Learning Together, told the jury a man came into the room ‘who said there is a man downstairs with knives and a bomb strapped to him’. 

‘I was certainly very scared and I suppose frozen to the spot a little bit, not knowing what to do.’

Also today, witness Amy Coop, a film-maker who had been attending the Learning Together conference to make a video for the organisers, described hearing screaming and quickly realising ‘something very bad had happened’.

Ms Coop was in the Banqueting Hall to get footage of a feedback session when she heard screaming and shouting – and went out on to a landing to see what was happening.

At the inquests into Mr Merritt and Ms Jones’s deaths today, Ms Coop told the jury: ‘There was more screaming and shouting and it very quickly became apparent that something very bad had happened.

‘As soon as I stepped out on to the landing it was clear that something was going on.’

She saw Ms Jones lying injured on the stairs, with a man kneeling next to her, trying to give first aid.

‘She looked very, very unwell,’ Ms Coop said. ‘She was ashen, grey in the face. Her eyes were open and very glassy and staring straight upwards.’

The film-maker went to look for a first aid kit or something that might help stem the bleeding for anyone who was injured.

As she returned to the landing, she heard more shouting, including ‘a loud and guttural roar’.

She told the jury: ‘It was a horrible noise coming from someone. It sounded like the kind of thing you see in a film.’ 

Earlier, jurors were shown graphic footage of Khan lying on London Bridge after he had been shot for the first time.

The terrorist could be seen rolling around, removing his jacket and gloves, while officers kept members of the public back.

Around eight minutes after he was first shot, he sat up, leading police to shoot him again. Less than two minutes after the second shots, he stopped moving.

Yesterday, Mr Merritt’s mother tearfully described her son as a ‘force for good in the world’ as the inquest heard graphic details of the attack in which he died.

Ms Jones was a former criminology student and ex-Cambridge undergraduate Mr Merritt was employed by the university on the Learning Together programme.

Speaking in the Old Library at Guildhall yesterday, Mr Merritt’s mother Anne wept as she told jurors: ‘Jack Merritt was a good person. Jack was a force for good in the world, someone who made other people’s lives better for knowing him.

‘We are hugely proud of who Jack was and what he stood for. His death was a tragedy but his life was a triumph.’

She read tributes from friends and family who described him as a ‘true visionary’, a ‘very cool brother’, and a ‘fiercely loyal’ friend who ‘championed the underdog’.

Henry Pitchers QC, for the Jones family, said Ms Jones would wish the inquest to focus on the facts and evidence, with the ’emphasis to be on a thorough investigation as to how she came to lose her life’.

He said: ‘It would be her hope that no other family is devastated and heartbroken again in similar circumstances.’

He added it is important to the family that her legacy is not solely based on her work with Learning Together.

Mr Pitchers said: ‘She should be defined as someone who battled to improve the lives of others in several spheres and was driven to make real changes in the world.’

He described her research in the field of sexual violence with Rape Crisis in Cambridge.

He said: ‘Her passion in this area enabled her to finally find her career path with the hope of becoming a detective in victim support within the police force.

‘The positive impact Saskia had on so many people in challenging situations provided a valley of light for them to seek hope and a way forward.’

Detective Chief Inspector Dan Brown chronicled the attack in a series of graphic photographs and video.

Jurors were told that Mr Merritt had some professional dealings with Khan before the Learning Together event in the stately hall.

Footage from shortly before midday showed Khan talking ‘animatedly’ with Ms Jones at a table, even though they had not known each other before.

Around two hours later, at 1.56pm, he launched his attack in the men’s toilets at Fishmongers’ Hall.

Khan had strapped two knives on to his hands, leaving a bag containing a third blade in a cubicle and dropping a prayer book on the floor. 

He came across Mr Merritt, stabbing him multiple times, causing 12 injuries including a fatal wound to the chest, the court heard.

Khan made his way to the cloakroom area, where he gestured to a member of staff ‘as if to be quiet’, Mr Brown said.

Ms Jones was stabbed once in the neck and staggered up a few steps before she collapsed, jurors heard. Khan went on to injure Stephanie Szczotko and Isobel Rowbotham during the rampage.

He was confronted by a number of attendees with makeshift weapons, including an ornamental pike taken from the wall.

The attacker approached a member of staff, held a knife to his chest and asked him to open the door, which he did, the court was told.

The court heard there were screams and lots of confusion as people left by another exit.

Khan was pursued on to London Bridge by John Crilly, Steven Gallant and Darryn Frost at around 2.01pm, five minutes after the attack began, jurors were told.

Mr Crilly sprayed a fire extinguisher at him and Mr Frost jabbed at him with a narwhal tusk before they all tackled Khan to the ground with other members of the public.

Police had been called at 1.58pm and armed City of London Police officers arrived at 2.02pm. Shouts could be heard that the suspect had just killed two people and a male voice called him a ‘scumbag’.

Mr Brown said Khan appeared to be wearing an improvised explosive device (IED) strapped around his midriff and people were told stand clear.

The senior officer told jurors: ‘There was one individual, Mr Frost, who was still holding on to Khan. He was told to move out of the way.’

Khan was then shot and Tasered by police but still appeared to present a threat as he writhed on the floor wearing the IED, Mr Brown said. 

He said police discharged firearms again at 2.10pm and by 2.12pm Khan no longer showed any signs of life.

A examination of the IED later revealed it was not genuine, the court heard. Jurors heard that one of Khan’s knives had a crudely etched Arabic symbol for Allah on it. A fourth knife was discovered at his home in Stafford.

Mr Brown suggested Khan put on the fake IED on the train to London. The officer told jurors that investigators examined Khan’s digital devices, CCTV, mobile phone data and GPS he wore as an offender on licence. He said: ‘We are satisfied he acted completely alone in this attack.’ 

Jury inquests into the deaths of Mr Merritt and Ms Jones are taking place before coroner Mark Lucraft QC at Guildhall in the City of London. They are due to go on for six weeks before a separate inquest into Khan’s death.