London Bridge attacker Youssef Zaghba coached kids at an east London gym club just months before atrocity
A LONDON Bridge terrorist went unchecked coaching kids at a gymnastics club, The Sun can reveal.
Bosses employed mass murderer Youssef Zaghba without any background searches.
British Gymnastics executives were yesterday probing how the knife-wielding extremist got to teach children.
He was a popular, “cool and relaxed”, coach at Catleaps Gymnastics in Dagenham, east London.
Counter-terrorism chiefs have been in touch with the club to seek all contact details they had for him.
A gym source said: “It’s chilling to think he was planning this terrorist atrocity while spending time with our children.
“We’re worried now what he said to our kids or if he tried to pass on any of his poisonous views. There’s a feeling we could have done more.”
The 22-year-old bearded Islamic fanatic proudly posed for a photograph wearing the club badge.
He coached and mentored kids from 2016 – when he told Italian cops who spotted him trying to reach Syria with no bags or cash, “I’m going to be a terrorist”.
The nut suddenly stopped turning up at the gym in February this year.
Last Saturday he ploughed through pedestrians on London Bridge in a van, before committing a stabbing rampage with Rachid Redouane, 30, and Khuram Butt, 27, killing eight people and leaving scores injured.
Pakistan-born Butt worked in a gym in nearby Barking, east London, and last night police were understood to be probing any links with Zaghba’s club.
Catleaps’ website showed Zaghba sitting with young gymnasts at Robert Clack school in the town – the club headquarters.
One photo showed him with three young girls above a heading: “Play, Learn & Grow Together.”
Bosses reached out to Zaghba as recently as March asking him to return to the club, but he failed to respond.
Catleaps’ owners paid for him to go on a coaching course earlier this year, and also for his insurance and membership via British Gymnastics.
The club claims on its website that all coaches are trained through British Gymnastics the UK National Governing Body for the sport of Gymnastics.
It also says that all coaches, judges and officials have successfully passed background checks.
It states: “Coaches, judges and officials hold Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosures, administrated through British Gymnastics.
“We also follow the British Gymnastics Safeguarding & Protecting People policy to meet our duty of care towards young people.”
Catleaps offers a coach training programme – and Zaghba had successfully applied.
Last night frantic bosses closed down their social media sites after being contacted by The Sun.
A gymnast source said last night: “Youssef volunteered as a coach in 2016 and was welcomed to the club.
“He came across as very normal.
“Bosses blindly welcomed him with open arms. They didn’t pause for a second to check that he was suitable.
“In this day and age, despite the unimaginable horror of the London Bridge attacks, the lack of any background checks is unforgivable.”
Catleaps has in recent years boasted of regular visits by Great Britain Olympic stars including Max Whitlock, Louis Smith, Kristan Thomas and Nile Wilson.
The Sun’s source said: “Zaghba just stopped coming in.
“He worked for several hours a week. But because he was only coaching on a volunteer basis the bosses hadn’t bothered to get around to carrying out checks on him.”
Disclosure and Barring Service checks, replacing the Criminal Records Bureau enquiries, are required to ensure unsuitable people do not work with vulnerable groups, including children.
Zaghba had been arrested at Bologna Airport in March last year when he tried to travel to Syria via Turkey.
He had an Italian mum and Moroccan dad and was born in Fez, Morocco in January 1995.
His parents had lived in the North African country before splitting up and his mum returned to Italy.
He was stopped in Italy, where his mum lives, with just a backpack and one-way ticket to Istanbul in March 2016 and no money. He told local cops: “I’m going to be a terrorist.”
Moroccan and “British authorities” were tipped off about his movements after he was charged and later cleared on international terrorism charges and placed on a “persons at risk” list.
But a statement from the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command say he was “not a police or MI5 subject of interest”.
Terrorist Khuram Butt worked at an all-Muslim gym in East London run by Sajeel Shahid, 41, a member of Anjem Choudary’s network, who allegedly helped to set up weapons training in Pakistan for the 7/7 bombers.
Last night British Gymnastics told The Sun: “Firstly, we want to express our deepest sympathies to all those affected by the recent atrocities.
“I can confirm Youssef Zaghba was a member and held an introductory coaching accreditation, this means he would have been supervised at all times.
“A background check for a helper at this level is not required. He volunteered for 6 weeks, for 2 hours per week which stopped in February. At no time was he left on his own with gymnasts.
“As a police investigation is under way, we are unable to comment further.”
Catleaps Gymnastic refused to talk to The Sun.
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