Terrorist used school job to try and push radical Islam on child

Khan befriended the young boy after meeting him through his job as a primary school mentor and attempted to convert him to Islam.

He introduced him to Shehzad Tanweer, his number two in planning the 2005 London bombings, and on one occasion told the child that people would “pay” for what they had done to Pakistan.

Concerns were also raised about fellow bomber Jermaine Lindsay’s attempts to indoctrinate younger pupils in extremist views while he was still at school, the inquest was told.

Lindsay handed out leaflets in support of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden to fellow students at Rawthorpe High School in Huddersfield.

Khan, 30, was employed as a youth worker from 1997 and became a learning mentor at Hillside Primary School in Beeston, Leeds, in March 2001, a job that required no formal qualifications.

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, noted there was nothing in Khan’s past that would have stopped him working in the school. “Whatever system one had in place, it looks as if he would have got through any kind of assessment because of his background. He didn’t have previous convictions of a kind that would have alerted anybody.”

The inquest heard Khan became close to a Hillside pupil aged 11 or 12 and tried to persuade him to convert to Islam “on numerous occasions”. At one point while in his car Khan referred to the 9/11 attacks and said people would “pay” for what they had done to Pakistan.

Gareth Patterson, barrister for some families of those killed in the attacks, observed: “A theme that runs through much of the evidence that was assembled by the police is the fact that there appeared to be attempts by Khan to influence other young people in the community.”

The inquest also heard that Khan talked about the extremist Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, which was linked to radical clerics Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Hamza.

Acting Detective Inspector Peter Sparks, of the Metropolitan Police, said: “His brother thought he was testing the waters because he spoke about a group called al-Muhajiroun who are a very well known extremist group, and his brother tried to dissuade him from going along this line.”

The inquest heard that a friend of Khan’s wife, Hasina Patel, told police the bomber went to Pakistan and Afghanistan before his marriage in October 2001 to learn to “shoot and fight”.

Khan returned to Pakistan on November 18 2004 having made a home video in which he apparently said goodbye to his baby daughter forever, seemingly because he was planning to die fighting.

However, his wife recorded in her diary on November 26: “S rang, good news, back by February.”

DI Sparks noted: “It appeared that she originally wasn’t expecting to see him but now he was coming back again.”

The inquest also heard a policeman criticise other officers’ delays in helping people injured in the 7/7 bus bombing. Pc Glen Hesketh, who cut his hands “to ribbons” while trying to reach casualties, arrived at the scene minutes after the blast went off but while other officers were there, nobody was on the bus assisting the injured.

“It’s purely my opinion, but if somebody can be helped, they need to be helped and immediately,” he said. “We’re not paid to be wrapped in cotton wool, we have to get in there and help people.”

The hearing continues.