London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan ‘preached with ISIS flags on streets after being bullied at school over facial hair’
A FORMER classmate of the London Bridge terrorist says he preached with ISIS flags on the streets after being bullied at school over his facial hair.
Usman Khan, 28, was out on licence at a prisoner rehabilitation conference when he stabbed two people to death while wearing a fake suicide jacket on Friday.
A 25-year-old man, Jack Merritt, has been named as one of the victims. A woman, yet to be identified, was also killed in the attack.
Questions have now emerged why the the convicted terrorist had been released from prison early.
Khan was jailed in 2012 for eight years after police uncovered a plot by his nine-strong terror cell to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp – but was let out in December last year.
It also surfaced that Khan was a student of hate preacher Anjem Choudary before he was caged for his terror plot.
‘ODDBALL’
Khan’s classmate, who has not been named, told how he desperately tried to fit in and be liked at school by wearing the latest clothes but had no confidence and would never speak up.
The man, who attended Haywood High School in Burslem, Stoke with him, told how “oddball” Khan was recruited by Islamic State after being bullied.
The ex-classmate revealed Khan was targeted after growing facial hair at an early age and tried to fit in by wearing designer, western clothes.
He said: “He was a really quiet kid at school, he kept himself to himself but he was made fun of when he started growing facial hair long before the rest of us.
“There weren’t many Muslim kids at our school and there was a lot of tension between the small group of Asian kids and the white kids.
Looking back, he obviously tried really hard to fit in and be liked. But he always used to sit by himself at school and only really had one person you could call a friend
Usman Khan's ex-classmate
“Looking back, he obviously tried really hard to fit in and be liked – I remember he wore a Helly Hansen jacket and Rockport shoes, which all the cool kids were wearing at the time.
“But he always used to sit by himself at school and only really had one person you could call a friend.”
Within months of leaving school in 2007, the man – speaking on condition of anonymity – spotted Khan preaching hate on the streets.
He added: “I had to do a double take when I saw him in town shouting and preaching about Allah – he had the black IS flags on a table.
“You can’t mistake that flag, when you see it you know exactly what it means and exactly what is being said, it’s disgusting that he was allowed to do that and not one official questioned what he was showing children walking up and down town.”
‘A CHANGED MAN’
Khan had been out attending a “Learning Together” event when he unleashed the frenzied stabbing attack.
Brave heroes used a narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher to chase Khan and wrestle him down before armed police shot him dead.
Alongside the fatalities, three others were left injured in the attack. One of them is in a critical condition.
The ex classmate continued: “It’s just appalling that he was even allowed to do that.
“Personally, I think he was recruited by terrorists after school and found people who accepted him and so he stayed with them, and that’s why he was so different when I saw him again.
“He was a changed man, confident, outspoken and shouting about his beliefs and ideologies.
“The fact that he was already found guilty of terrorism and let free through an appeal, then was released and has now murdered two people sums up our justice system – and the people that helped his release should be looked at too.”
In response to the revelations, Boris Johnson said it was a “mistake” to allow Khan out early.
The Parole Board said in a statement this morning they had “no involvement” in Khan’s release.
It added it he appeared “to have been released automatically on licence (as required by law), without ever being referred to the Board”.
