A counter-terrorism expert has said the criminal justice system is playing ‘Russian roulette’ with people’s lives, after it emerged the London Bridge killer had been let out of jail less than half way through his sentence.

In the wake of the London Bridge attack on Friday afternoon, pressure has been mounting on the police to investigate how a convicted terrorist was able to go on a killing rampage while wearing a monitored tag.

Usman Khan, 28, was released less than seven years into his 16-year prison sentence over his part in an al Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange in 2012.

He was released in December 2018 and was still wearing a monitoring tag during the attack in which he killed a man and a woman and injured three other people, who are being treated in hospital.

On Saturday, Security Minister Brandon Lewis refused to say whether Friday’s attack showed a ‘failure’ by authorities but admitted that more assessment of the sentences given to violent criminals was needed.

Following the incident, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has insisted that terrorism and security cannot be separated from the cuts that have been made to resources.

Chris Phillips, a former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said: ‘The criminal justice system needs to look at itself.

‘We’re letting people out of prison, we’re convicting people for very, very serious offences and then they are releasing them back into society when they are still radicalised.

‘So how on Earth can we ever ask our police services and our security services to keep us safe?

‘I’ve said it a few times today, we’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives, letting convicted, known, radicalised Jihadi criminals walk about our streets.’

Mohibur Rahman, who was jailed alongside Kahn in 2012, was found guilty of another terrorist plot in 2017 following his release from prison.

Questions have been raised on the issue of overcrowding in prisons, with hundreds being released early with monitoring tags in a bid to relieve strained services.

Khan was given an early release on the condition that he wears the device and adheres to his curfew. The Home Detention Curfew scheme orders offenders to remain inside from 7pm to 7am.

But increasing numbers of convicts are being sent back to prison, with 644 being recalled between April and July compared with 465 in the third quarter of 2018.

In August, Boris Johnson ordered an urgent review of sentencing policy, saying that dangerous criminals must be taken off the streets and punishments ‘truly fit the crime’ if the public was to have confidence in the justice system.

The review was instructed to start work immediately and to report back to No 10 in the autumn, however it is not yet clear whether this has taken place.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Lewis repeatedly refused to comment on the specifics of the incident but said a review would be carried out ‘swiftly’.

He said: ‘I think it is right that we do have to look again at the sentences, as I say, around these violent crimes.

‘The Prime Minister has argued that, has made that point previously and made it very clearly last night.

‘We will want to move very swiftly because our first priority is the safety of people around the country.’

When asked how Khan, who was on licence from prison at the time, was able to arm himself and launch the attack, Mr Lewis said it would be ‘inappropriate and dangerous’ to speculate on the issue.

On funding for the police, Mr Lewis said: ‘Police funding for counter-terrorism policing has consistently increased since 2015.

‘As have counter-terrorism police numbers,’ before adding: ‘We will make sure that police has got the resource that it needs’.

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