UK Parliament attacker was Muslim convert with violent past

The man who launched a terror attack on UK Parliament has been identified by police as 52-year-old former convict Adrian Russell Ajao who acquired the name Khalid Masood upon conversion to Islam.

Scotland Yard Acting Deputy Commissioner and Counter- Terrorism chief Mark Rowley today revealed that the "fast-paced" counter-terrorism operation to establishMasood's "motivation, preparation and his associates" has been titled 'Operation Classific'.

"The Counter Terrorism Command investigation - Operation Classific - continues, involving hundreds of officers from across the counter terrorism network.we named the dead terrorist as Khalid Masood - we stated he had a number of aliases - we now know his birth name was Adrian Russell Ajao," he said.

In his appeal to the public, he added: "We remain keen to hear from anyone who knew Khalid Masood well; understands who his associates



were; and can provide with information about places he has recently visited.

"There might well be people out there who did have concerns about Masood but weren't sure or didn't feel comfortable for whatever reason in passing information to us. The appeal came as a picture emerges of an English schoolboy, born to a white mother and black father, with a history of violent knife crime," he said.

In July 2000, he slashed a man across the face after an argument that the court at the time was told "racial overtones".

Hove Crown Court also heard during the trial thatthe attack had left Masood and his young family "ostracised"in the village of Northiam in Sussex, south-east England.

Judge Charles Kemp had sentenced him to a total of two years in prison.