- Thursday, May 26, 2022
By: Keerthi Mohan
The family of London Bridge attacker has released a statement expressing shock and sadness at the atrocity and said they “totally condemn” his actions.
It read: “We are saddened and shocked by what Usman has done. We totally condemn his actions and we wish to express our condolences to the families of the victims that have died and wish a speedy recovery to all of the injured.
“We would like to request privacy for our family at this difficult time.”
Two people — Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were killed in the attack on Friday.
Khan was known to authorities before Friday’s attack, which injured three others.
The 28-year-old was arrested in December and sentenced in 2012 to indeterminate detention for “public protection” with a minimum jail term of eight years after pleading guilty to preparing terrorist acts.
He was released in December 2018 and had been living in Stafford.
Khan was on licence and wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack after he was invited to the prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday afternoon.
The recent attack has sparked a political row over the release of Khan, and a debate on the current criminal justice system.
Prime minister Boris Johnson was accused of trying to exploit Friday’s attack “for political gain” after he blamed Khan’s release on legislation introduced under “a leftie government.”
However, he denied these claims, saying he had campaigned against early release for some time.
“Look at my 2012 manifesto on crime … I’ve campaigned for a long time for longer sentences for serious and violent offenders,” he said. “What I’m saying is our job is to keep the public safe and that’s what we want to do,” the prime minister added.
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