The family of Fishmongers’ Hall attacker Usman Khan has said they are “shocked and saddened” by the atrocity and “totally condemn” his actions.
In a short statement issued through the Metropolitan Police, they expressed their condolences to the two victims who died and those who were injured in the violence on Friday.
It read: “We are saddened and shocked by what Usman has done. We totally condemn his actions and we wish to express our condolences to the families of the victims that have died and wish a speedy recovery to all of the injured.
“We would like to request privacy for our family at this difficult time.”
The statement came after the girlfriend of victim Jack Merritt described him as a “phenomenal” man.
Cambridge University graduates Mr Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were both stabbed to death by the 28-year-old during a prisoner rehabilitation event they were supporting at London’s Fishmongers’.
Hall.
On Monday, the family of Mr Merritt gathered to pay tribute to him and Miss Jones at a service in Cambridge, in which Ms O’Brien was seen breaking down in tears.
Later, David Merritt wrote in the Guardian that his son would be “livid” if he could comment on his death.
“He would be seething at his death, and his life, being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate that he gave his everything fighting against,” he said.
“We should never forget that. What Jack would want from this is for all of us to walk through the door he has booted down, in his black Doc Martens.”
It came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Khan, who was freed halfway through a 16-year jail sentence, was on the streets because of laws introduced by a “leftie government”.
Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the Probation Service.
Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, he was tackled by members of the public, including ex-offenders from the conference, before he was shot dead by police.
One of the three people injured in the attack has been allowed to return home while the other two remain in a stable condition in hospital.
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Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, was a co-ordinator for Learning Together, a programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology which is aimed at bringing offenders and people in higher education to “study alongside each other”.
Miss Jones, a volunteer on the programme from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was described as having “great passion” for providing support to victims of crime by her family.
In a statement they said: “She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.”
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