Saturday, October 12

Jack Merritt, 25, named as first terror attack victim


 

 

The first victim of the London Bridge terror attack has been named as a Cambridge University worker who was a champion for ex-cons.

Jack Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, and a woman were stabbed to death by Usman Khan in Friday afternoon’s rampage in the heart of the capital.

Mr Merritt, 25, was a course coordinator for a prisoner rehabilitation programme, Learning Together, that was attended by the convicted terrorist and other offenders.

His devastated father David paid tribute to him on Twitter, writing: My son, Jack, who was killed in this attack, would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily.

R.I.P. Jack: you were a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog.

He wrote that his son had been a champion for those who had dealt a losing hand by life, who ended up in the prison system.

He also tweeted: Jack spoke so highly of all the people he worked with & he loved his job.

Thank you for your support. I know his colleagues are in shock- please look after each other at this terrible time.

Paying tribute to Mr Merritt, a friend wrote: “David, I knew your son through Learning Together & I loved him to pieces – he was the sweetest, most caring and selfless individual I’ve ever met.

The warmest heart, always with time for anyone. Completely irreplaceable – I will mourn his loss greatly and honour his memory xxxx.

According to his Facebook profile, Mr Merritt studied law at the University of Manchester and had also attended the University of Cambridge.

Before university, he attended Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge.

In February 2012, Khan, formerly of Stoke, was given an open-ended indeterminate sentence for public protection over his part in an al-Qaida-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp on land in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir owned by his family.

A list of other potential targets included the names and addresses of the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, then London mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, and the American Embassy in London.

Khan, 28, knifed five people before he was tackled and disarmed by brave witnesses and then shot dead by police at point-blank range.

He was armed with two kitchen knives and wearing a fake suicide vest when he launched his attack while attending the Learning Together event.

A source told PA that Khan started “lashing out” in a downstairs room of Fishmongers’ Hall, on the north side of the bridge, but was grabbed by the conference-goers and bundled out of the front door as he tried to go upstairs.

Khan, of Stafford, struggled as he was pinned to the ground until armed officers arrived and shot him in front of dozens of witnesses as traffic came to a grinding halt on the bridge over the River Thames.