Streatham terrorist Sudesh Amman’s mother spoke to her ‘polite boy’ hours before attack

The mother of Streatham terrorist Sudesh Amman has told Sky News he was a “nice, polite boy” who was radicalised online and in prison – and revealed she spoke to him just hours before the attack.

Haleema Faraz Khan said her son seemed “normal” when she visited him at a bail hostel on Thursday and he called her before Sunday’s attack asking her to make him some mutton biryani.

Amman was under police surveillance when he stabbed two people in south London while wearing a fake suicide vest before he was shot dead by officers.

Police said witness statements suggest Amman stole a knife from a shop and was pursued by a shop assistant.

The force added that as he ran from the shop he removed the knife’s packaging and attacked two members of the public.

Police said the time from him entering the shop and beginning the attack was around one minute.

They added that he was fatally shot within around a minute of him beginning to attack people.

The 20-year-old from Harrow, northwest London, had been released from prison in January after serving time for spreading extremist material.

In an interview with Sky News, Ms Khan said she could not believe her “polite and lovely boy” who was “always smiling” could carry out a terror attack.

Fighting back tears, she said she believed her son had become radicalised after watching Islamist material online and while in the high security jail Belmarsh.

“I spoke to him on the phone on Sunday,” Ms Khan said.

“He said: ‘Mum I want some biryani…. your mutton biryani’.

“He was fine when I went to see him.

“He became more religious inside prison, that’s where I think he became radicalised.

“He was watching and listening to things online which brainwashed him.

“Before he went to prison he was not that religious. After he came out he was really religious.

“He was a polite, kind, lovely boy. He was always smiling.

“I’m so upset, he was only 20 years old.”

Ms Khan, who is originally from Sri Lanka but lives in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said when she first heard an attack had happened she “had a feeling” he was responsible because it was in south London.

“I saw it on the TV, that’s when I knew it was him,” she said.

“His name was there. That was the first time I heard.

“He didn’t answer his phone, I tried to ring him [after the attack].”

Ms Khan said she wanted to bury her son quickly but his body has not yet been released.

Park High School in Stanmore, Harrow confirmed Amman attended between 2011 and 2016 and a former school friend told Sky News he had shown “no signs of extremism”.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said: “It really is a shame that he has done such a tragic thing, as I believe that Sudesh really had potential to make it far in life.”

The former friend said the last time he saw Amman was in 2018, adding: “I bumped into him, he seemed a little dazed, as if in a rush as far as I can remember. It really is a shame.”

Meanwhile, the College of North West London – where Amman was a student from September 2017 to May 2018 – said there had been “no indications that he was potentially linked to terrorist activities”.

Amman was jailed for three years and four months in December 2018 for possessing and distributing terrorist documents.

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Following his release from prison, he had been staying at a bail hostel in Streatham for the past two weeks after serving less than half of his sentence.

The Ministry of Justice has refused to reveal the date Amman was released but confirmed it was “in the past six weeks”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government will crack down on the early release of terrorist prisoners, although it is not clear how this will be applied to cases already in train.

It comes after convicted terrorist Usman Khan murdered two people despite being on probation at Fishmongers’ Hall in the City of London in November.

“We are bringing forward legislation to stop the system of automatic early release,” Mr Johnson said.

“The difficulty is how to apply retrospectively to the cohort of people who currently qualify.

“It is time to take action to ensure, irrespective of the law we are bringing in, people in the current stream don’t qualify automatically for early release.”

About 245 convicted terrorists were freed from jail between 2012 and 2019.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more than 70 people who have been convicted of a terrorist offence and served time in prison have been released in the capital.

Scotland Yard said armed officers were following Amman on foot as part of a “proactive counter-terrorism surveillance operation” in Streatham High Road.

A man in his 40s who was stabbed is no longer in a life-threatening condition, while a woman in her 50s who had non-life threatening injuries after being knifed has been discharged from hospital.

Police said a second woman, in her 20s, who suffered minor injuries believed to have been caused by glass following the discharge of a police firearm, continues to receive treatment.

(c) Sky News 2020: Streatham terrorist Sudesh Amman’s mother spoke to her ‘polite boy’ hours before attack