The author of a jihadist knife attack in early 2020 in London, killed by the police, had distinguished himself shortly before in prison by his radicalism and had expressed his desire to "kill the queen", according to a report made public Tuesday in court.
Since Monday, a hearing has been held in front of the High Court of London in the investigation procedure opened into the attack perpetrated on February 2, 2020 by Sudesh Amman.
Wearing a fake explosive vest, the assailant had stabbed two people in a shopping street in London's Streatham district.
A third person was injured by a shard of glass caused by fire from the police.
Sentenced for possession and distribution of jihadist documents to 40 months in prison, he had been released from prison less than two weeks earlier after serving half of his sentence.
According to prison administration reports, his behavior became increasingly violent during his detention at Belmarsh High Security Prison.
Read also Knife attack in London: the monitoring of the terrorists in question
According to a report mentioned Tuesday at the hearing, he had shouted among other things "This place is full of non-believers", or "Everyone here will rally under the black flag" of the Islamic State group.
He also spoke of "extremist convictions including in particular a desire to kill the queen, to become the author of a suicide attack and to join" the group Islamic State.
"Proud to be the youngest convicted of terrorism"
During his stay behind bars, he had rubbed shoulders with detainees implicated in terrorist offenses, such as the brother of the perpetrator of the Manchester suicide bombing who killed 22 people in 2017 after leaving a concert of pop star Ariana Grande.
According to a London police official, Luke Williams, he "seemed proud to be the youngest convicted of terrorism in Belmarsh and did not seem to feel any remorse."
Information from the prison authorities also implicated him in the radicalization of other detainees.
Sudesh Amman was deemed so dangerous after his release from prison that he was closely watched by armed police, which enabled him to be neutralized about a minute after the start of the attack.
This came shortly after the death in late 2019 of two people, killed by a man convicted of terrorism near London Bridge, which led the government to pass a law intended to prevent automatic releases.
