French spooks ‘were warned about priest killer just four days before horrific knife attack’ at church’s altar
Photograph of second terrorist Abdel Malik P. was handed to intelligence services who were warned of 'serious threat'
FRENCH spooks were handed the picture of a terrorist behind the execution of a Catholic priest just four days before the attack.
Damning revelations also suggest the country's intelligence service was warned an attack was imminent, French TV has alleged.
RTL reported that spy chiefs were sent an image of the second man behind the killing of Father Jacques Hamel by a foreign intelligence service and warned of a severe threat.
The suspect identified to authorities is thought to be Abdel Malik P., 19, who carried out the brutal attack alongside fellow radicalised 19-year-old Adel Kermiche.
Later revealed to be another homegrown fanatic, Malik born in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, in North East France and had tried to travel to Syria.
But with only a photo at the time – and no name or address – counter-terror cops could only circulate the image and hope someone recognised the man in it.
Security services are also said to have been passed information about an impending attack – including date and motive.
The note also allegedly warned the suspect was likely to already be in France.
It is said that cops launched a hurried probe, desperately trying to find the attackers before they struck.
Sadly, any apparently last ditch efforts were ultimately in vain.
Malik and Kermiche stormed into a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray while Father Jacques Hamel was saying mass.
The evil pair forced him to kneel by the altar before slitting his throat in front of horrified worshippers.
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After butchering the elderly clergyman and filming the whole ordeal, witnesses described how the sick duo then started to preach some sort of sermon in Arabic.
The two men were later shot dead as they emerged from the church near Rouen, Normandy, yesterday.
A third man was arrested in connection with the killing.
Questions were already being asked about how the attack was allowed to happen after it emerged that Kermiche was known to security services.
The killer was on a terror watch list and even had an electronic tag on his ankle after being released from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for terror offences.
The latest revelations about his accomplice, if proved to be true, will put further pressure on the government and police.
Video emerged today showing the pair apparently pledging allegiance to ISIS before carrying out the shocking attack.
The propaganda video was released by the terror group’s Amaq ‘news agency’.
Amaq declared the murderous pair “soldiers of the Islamic State who carried out the attack in response to calls to target countries of the Crusader coalition”.
The footage shows the men sitting side by side as the rant at the camera.
For much of the video – in which Kermiche and Malik identify themselves as Abu Omar and Abu Jalil al-Hanfai – the pair appear to be holding hands.
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