Khuram Butt
© Channel 4MI5 intelligence indicated Khuram Butt was ‘supportive of Isis’, MPs found
Police arrested the London Bridge attack ringleader eight months before the atrocity but let him go - even after finding terrorist propaganda that could have seen him jailed.

A report by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament revealed that Khuram Butt could have been "disrupted" over allegations of fraud in 2016.

He was already known for his links to hate preacher Anjem Choudary's al-Muhajiroun extremist group and MI5 intelligence indicated he was "supportive of Isis".

Counterterror police investigated Butt in October 2016 over suspected bank fraud and "discovered files that police considered 'may successfully be used in a prosecution under the Terrorism Act'", the report said.

But MPs said the issue "was not explored further" due to reasons that were redacted for national security reasons.

The report also found that security services missed a potential opportunity to prevent the Manchester bombing by intercepting Salman Abedi when he returned from Libya days before the blast, which killed 22 victims and injured hundreds more as they left an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.

MPs found that Abedi and his brother Hashem may have been radicalised by their father, who supported rebels in the Libyan civil war. However, no members of the family were referred to the Prevent scheme.

Abedi was not monitored during trips to Libya, despite appearing on MI5's radar multiple times over links to other terrorists who were under investigation, and visiting an extremist in prison, the report found.

He became a "subject of interest" in 2014 and intelligence that he supported Isis was received, but the report said MI5 did not actively investigate him partly because of the "view that he would not pose a threat in the UK".

Giving evidence to the committee, an MI5 agent admitted that Abedi should have been placed under "ports action" procedures, which would have monitored his travel out of and into the country.

They added: "We cannot see it would have made a difference because of the timeline that few days window would have given us, but in principle it was the right thing and it should have happened."

Despite his multiple extremist links, he was not deemed sufficient risk to be put under priority investigation, and his case was due to be reviewed when he blew himself up among crowds at Manchester Arena.

The committee said that security services also failed to "join the dots" on the Westminster attacker Khalid Masood, who had known links to al-Qaeda supporters after converting to Islam in prison.

MPs also identified a "litany of errors" ahead of the September 2017 Parsons Green attack, when an Iraqi asylum seeker attempted to bomb a Tube train but his device only partially exploded.


Comment: It's almost like British Intelligence is actively allowing terror attacks to occur. But that's preposterous!


Ahmed Hassan had told border officials he had been forced into an Isis training camp in his home country and indoctrinated as a child, but was not investigated by MI5.

Known to be suffering from mental health issues, Hassan was also under the Channel anti-radicalisation scheme, part of the government's Prevent strategy to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

The committee called for a review of Prevent's role in the case.

Like Abedi, Hassan managed to obtain materials to make the powerful explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), and MPs concluded that the system for regulating and reporting purchases of bomb ingredients were "hopelessly out of date".

They also called for the government to consider increasing the monitoring of vehicle hire in the wake of the Westminster, London Bridge and Finsbury Park attacks.