A British terrorist who stabbed two people just 10 days after being released from prison had vowed before being set free to kill the Queen, become a suicide bomber and join ISIS, an inquest has heard.
Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police in February last year after he stabbed two people on a main street in London’s Streatham.
An inquest at the UK’s Royal Courts of Justice heard on Tuesday that prior to being released, Amman had shared views with inmates, including how he wanted to target the Queen, the Times reports.
He had also been placed on 24-hour surveillance in the months before being released due to his extremist mindset and behavior.
Amman was serving a 40-month sentence for preparing and engaging in acts of terrorism at the time.
Prison officials told police in late 2019 that Amman had been radicalizing other inmates, the inquest heard.
He had also engaged with other convicted terrorists while in prison, including Hashem Abedi — one of the men who plotted the 2017 Manchester Arena suicide bombing.
Two separate prison psychology assessments carried out before his release — in July 2019 and January 2020 — showed he still held extremist views.
Officials noted that Amman posed a ‘high risk of serious harm’ to the public and there was a “risk of him committing an attack, especially an attack with knives”, the inquest heard.
“The potential for serious harm is significant due to [Amman] promoting the use of violent jihad and wanting to carry out an attack himself,” the assessment report noted.
Despite the assessments and warnings, Jenny Louis, the governor of the Belmarsh prison where Amman was held, told the inquest they couldn’t keep him in prison longer than his sentence.
Amman ended up being released to a probation hostel in Streatham on January 23, 2020.
Police put Amman under 24-hour surveillance in the days after his release when he was spotted buying items that could be used to create a hoax suicide belt.
Ten days after his release, Amman stabbed a man and a woman on Streatham High Road with a knife he had just stolen.
He was shot dead by police just seconds after the stabbing by the undercover officers tailing him.
His inquest remains ongoing.
