UK spies knew London terrorist’s record of crime and extremism

LONDON (March 24): The terrorist behind the worst attack on London in more than a decade had a string of convictions for violence and was once investigated by British intelligence over concerns he was turning to extremism.

The attack claimed a fourth victim Thursday, with police saying a 75-year-old man died in the hospital of injuries suffered a day earlier. As the capital began returning to normal after Wednesday’s radical Islamist-inspired rampage, police named 52-year-old British-born Khalid Masood as the man who carried out a car-and-knife attack before he was himself shot dead by a security officer.

“What I can confirm is that the man was British born and that –- some years ago –- he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism,” Prime Minister Theresa May said as she updated lawmakers in a somber House of Commons. “He was a peripheral figure.”

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