British police named the man who stabbed two people to death in London on Friday in what the authorities called a terrorist attack as 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been convicted of terrorism offences and was released from prison last year.

“This individual was known to authorities, having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences,” Britain’s top counter-terrorism police officer, Neil Basu, said in a statement.

“He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly, a key line of enquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack,” Basu said.

A person who is released on licence is subject to conditions for the duration of their sentence after leaving prison. The Times newspaper reported that Khan had agreed to wear an electronic tag.

The attacker went on the rampage just before 2 p.m., targeting people at Fishmongers’ Hall near London Bridge in the heart of the city’s financial district – the scene of a deadly attack by Islamist militants two years ago.

In addition to the man and the woman who were killed, a man and two women were injured and remain in hospital, Basu said.

Just before news broke of the suspect’s previous conviction, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is seeking re-election on December 12, said criminals must be made to serve their sentences.

“It is a mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early, and it is very important that we get out of that habit and that we enforce the appropriate sentences for dangerous criminals, especially for terrorists,” he said.

• Read More: Terrorist wearing fake suicide vest kills two before being shot dead

Johnson leads opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to opinion polls.

During the 2017 election campaign, London Bridge was the scene of an attack when three militants drove a van into pedestrians and then attacked people in the surrounding area, killing eight and injuring at least 48. The attack focused attention on cuts to policing since the governing Conservatives took power in 2010.

“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to our police and emergency services, and the brave members of the public who put themselves in harm’s way to protect others,” Corbyn said late on Friday.

In late December 2010, Khan, along with eight others, was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and other terrorism offences.

They denied plotting to target sites such as the London Stock Exchange, the Houses of Parliament and the US embassy, as well as religious and political figures.

On February 1, 2012, the nine pleaded guilty to a variety of terrorist offences, just before their trial was due to begin.

Four admitted an al Qaida-inspired plot to detonate a bomb at the London Stock Exchange.

Khan and two others admitted to a lesser charge – engaging in conduct for the preparation of terrorism between November 1 and December 21, 2010 – namely travelling to and attending operational meetings, fundraising for terrorist training, preparing to travel abroad and assisting others in travelling abroad.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, opening the Crown’s case at the start of a three-day sentencing hearing on February 6, 2012, said: “These defendants had in overview decided that ultimately they would be responsible for very serious acts of terrorism.

“What was observed during the indictment period was planning for the immediate future, not involving suicide attacks, so that there would be a long-term future which would include further acts of terrorism.”

Khan, then aged 20, was secretly recorded talking about plans to recruit UK radicals to attend a training camp in Kashmir.

He said there were only three possible outcomes for him and his fellow jihadists: victory, martyrdom or prison.

Khan’s then home in Persia Walk, Stoke-on-Trent, was bugged as he discussed plans for the firearms training camp, which was to be disguised as a legitimate madrassa, an Islamic religious school, the court heard.

Discussing terrorist fundraising, he said Muslims in Britain could earn in a day what people in Kashmir, a disputed region divided between Pakistan and India, are paid in a month.

He went on: “On jobseeker’s allowance we can earn that, never mind working for that.”

Khan said he could only see three results: “There’s victory, what we hope for, there’s shahada (death as martyrs), or there’s prison.”

Khan and Nazam Hussain, 26, were given indeterminate sentences for public protection and to serve at least eight years behind bars, while Mohammed Shahjahan 27, was jailed for a minimum term of eight years and 10 months.

Passing sentence, the judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, said this was a “serious, long-term venture in terrorism” that could also have resulted in atrocities in Britain.

He said: “It was envisaged by them all that ultimately they and the other recruits may return to the UK as trained and experienced terrorists available to perform terrorist attacks in this country, on one possibility contemplated in the context of the return of British troops from Afghanistan.”

The trio appealed their sentences and on April 16, 2013 had their indeterminate sentences quashed by the Court of Appeal, which instead imposed determinate custodial sentences.

Allowing their sentence appeals, Lord Justice Leveson, sitting with Mr Justice Mitting and Mr Justice Sweeney, ruled that Shahjahan now had to serve 17 years and eight months and Khan and Hussain 16 years.

With additional reporting from Press Association

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