Streatham terrorist under 24-hour surveillance by armed police when he stabbed two, inquest hears

An Islamist terrorist was under 24-hour surveillance by armed police when he stole an eight-inch blade from a shop in South London and stabbed two people while wearing a fake suicide belt before he was shot dead, an inquest heard today. 

Isis supporter Sudesh Amman, 20, grabbed the carving knife from a shop in Streatham High Road on February 2, 2020 and stabbed two bystanders while wearing a ‘crude replica’ of a suicide belt before he was killed by police marksmen. Both his victims survived. 

Opening the inquest into Amman’s death at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, the coroner said he ‘died after having stabbed two people in an apparent terror attack and being confronted and shot by armed police surveillance officers’. 

It came 10 days after Amman was automatically released from HMP Belmarsh, where he was serving a 40-month sentence for 13 terror offences – having encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents and declared his own wish to carry out an attack.

Justice Nicholas Hilliard told jurors that Amman was being followed by four undercover armed police officers on foot when he launched the attack, while others were in vehicles on surrounding roads.

Amman was jailed but freed automatically on January 23, 2020 despite concerns he ‘retained extremist views throughout that time and there were concerns about his release into the community’.

Detective Superintendent Dominic Murphy, senior investigating officer at the Metropolitan Police, said police were so concerned about Amman that they asked the prison governor to keep him in custody past his automatic release date. But the request was turned down because the offence Amman committed could not justify an extension of his sentence, the inquest heard. 

He was under day-time surveillance by plain clothes officers between January 24 and 28 amid concerns he might commit another offence, and on January 29 a decision was made to allow those officers to carry firearms, the inquest heard today.

Two days later, Amman was seen looking at knives in a shop and purchasing items that could be used to create a hoax suicide belt, the coroner told jurors, after which it was decided to put the Islamist terrorist under 24-hour surveillance.   

Giving evidence at the inquest, Mr Murphy said that after being convicted of engaging in and disseminating terrorist material, Amman was sent to Belmarsh prison – where he said Amman believed he had gained ‘celebrity status as the result of being a convicted terrorist’.

A search of Amman’s prison cell found handwritten notes in Arabic that ‘appeared to show loyalty’ to Isis, he told the inquest. Amman also showed signs that he had not reformed as late as January 3, 2020, three weeks before his release into the community, the inquest heard.

Mr Murphy also said that Amman had been referred to children’s services during his time at school between 2012 and 2016 following ‘concerns over his mental health’ and that he had come to the attention of police in 2016 after he had attacked pupils at his school.   

On his release, Amman was required to live at a probation hostel in Streatham, with conditions such as a tag and curfew, and immediately became the subject of a ‘priority investigation’ by MI5 and Scotland Yard.  

The coroner described how Amman was seen leaving his hostel on the afternoon he struck, walking towards Streatham High Road at around 1.25pm.

The coroner said: ‘By 1.50pm, he (Amman) was walking very slowly, he had a white bag across his chest. He was under surveillance by four officers on foot, and other officers were in vehicles on a surrounding road.

‘At 1.57, Mr Amman entered a general shop… which sold, amongst other things, knives.’

He said an anonymous surveillance officer went towards the shop’s entrance, just as Amman grabbed a 20cm kitchen knife from a display and ran with it from the shop. The officer, known only as BX87, then ran after Amman.

The coroner said Amman then began stabbing members of the public. He said: ‘As he ran and within a few seconds, Amman stabbed a lady in the back outside the White Lion public house. A few seconds later while still running, he stabbed a man by Cash Converters, in the right side of his torso.’

The coroner said a second officer, known only as BX75, also joined the pursuit of Amman and shot at him. The shot shattered a shop window, and Amman turned to face the two officers while still holding the knife, during which both officers then opened fire. 

The inquest jury heard Amman suffered wounds in the neck and abdomen, and was pronounced dead at 3.24pm. 

There was a gap of 62 seconds between when Amman fled the shop with the knife, and being fatally shot. A suicide belt he was wearing was later found to be a hoax. 

Mr Murphy added that Amman had been pursued down Streatham High Street by armed police after he exited the shop. ‘Surveillance officers saw he was carrying a carving knife and gave foot chase and shouted ‘armed police’ and for him to stop,’ he said.

Mr Murphy said surveillance operations had been stepped up after Amman was observed entering a number of shops and making suspicious purchases in Poundland. Amman was reported to have bought a roll of brown tape, a roll of aluminium foil and three bottles of Irn Bru at the shop.

‘We have, through experience on previous incidents, (found) that people have made fake suicide vests with similar purchases,’ Mr Murphy told the inquest.

He added a further review had been undertaken, and from Saturday February 1 the armed officers would carry out ’round the clock’ surveillance with additional support from uniformed armed police and an arrest team from the Met’s SO15 team.

Inquest jurors were shown images of Amman on the afternoon he struck, taken under covert surveillance.

He was seen wearing a camouflage jacket and a red hood and a beanie hat, with grey traditional dress underneath his jacket. He was carrying a white JD Sports bag across his torso.

Mr Murphy told the inquest Amman was under surveillance from nine officers – one on a motorcycle, some in cars, and some on foot. He told the inquest: ‘The officers reported he was walking very slowly, apparently aimlessly.’

Mr Murphy said Amman had been inside the Low Price Store for ‘less than a minute’ but had snatched a kitchen knife from a display before running outside.

‘He was only inside for less than a minute,’ he told the inquest. ‘While he was inside he then took a kitchen knife from the display in the shop and then ran from the shop. As he left the shop he was tearing the knife out of the packaging.’

Jurors were shown a picture of the knife stolen by Amman, which was covered in bloodstains.

The coroner said Amman was arrested in May 2018 on suspicion on terror offences. He was later jailed for 40 months for 13 counts of obtaining and distributing material used for terrorist purposes, and was released automatically on January 23, 2020. 

Mr Murphy said Amman was identified as the user of a Telegram instant messaging channel with the username @strangertothisworld and had posted extremist material and imagery.

Jurors at the inquest heard that further extremist material was found on Amman’s computer, including a recipe for making explosive devices.

At a pre-inquest hearing last month, Amman’s family questioned whether the police and security services could have arrested him earlier instead of shooting him dead in the street.

A post-mortem examination previously recorded the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage and gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen. 

Amman’s inquest is listed to last up to three weeks. It is expected to examine his background, his time in prison, his movements in the days between release and the atrocity, and police surveillance.