The Fishmongers’ Hall attacker was an “influential” inmate who associated with Fusilier Lee Rigby’s killer before his release, an inquest has heard.

Convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, spent eight years in prison where he was involved in a string of violent incidents and “extremist bullying”, the inquest jury at London’s Guildhall was told.

Eleven months after his release, Khan killed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, at a Learning Together prisoners’ educational event at Fishmongers’ Hall in London.

On Tuesday, senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Dan Brown gave evidence about Khan’s life and long history of extremism in and out of prison.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent to parents who had come to the UK from Pakistan, he was described by a former teacher as having a “chip on his shoulder” and “teenage swagger”.

At the age of 13, Khan was excluded from school after assaulting another pupil and exchanging racial slurs, for which he was given a youth reprimand, the court heard.

The court heard how Khan was attracted to extreme Islam in his teens and took an interest in prominent figures Anwar Al-Awlaki and Anjem Choudary, the leader of terrorist organisation al-Muhajiroun (ALM).

In 2008, he preached in Stoke on behalf of ALM and police raided the address where he was living, jurors heard.

Afterwards, Khan said he was born and bred in Stoke, and insisted: “I ain’t no terrorist.”

But within years, Khan was one of nine men from London, Stoke and Cardiff to be convicted of terrorism offences.

In December 2010, Khan discussed with another male how to construct the pipe bomb from a recipe in the al Qaida magazine Inspire, jurors heard.

Khan pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and was in custody until the end of 2018.

In a basis of plea, Khan admitted plotting to set up a terrorist training camp in Pakistan which might send fighters back to the UK.

In February 2012, Khan was handed an indeterminate sentence which was varied upon appeal to an extended sentence.

It meant Khan had to serve eight years in custody but no longer needed the approval of the Parole Board before his release, the court heard.

Jurors were told how Khan became a senior figure amongst extremists in prison and was categorised as a “high risk”.

He was involved with violent incidents and radicalisation of fellow inmates during his time at seven prisons across England.

In January 2011, Khan suggested he had access to a weapon and would “do someone in the eye or neck” and wanted to die and go to paradise, jurors heard.

In March 2011, Khan and others were involved in an attack on another prisoner to shouts of “Allahu Akbar”, Mr Brown said.

The same year, Khan shouted during the two-minute silence for Armistice Day.

In June 2012, Khan recited a poem which included the line “cut off the kuffar’s head”, the court heard.

In May 2013, a stockpile of chemicals was found in Khan’s cell which would not have been capable of making an IED but was still “very concerning”, Mr Brown said.

In November of that year, a Church of England chaplain was caught up in an assault by Khan on another prisoner.

The same day, a razor blade was found in his cell, the court heard.

In 2017, while at HMP Whitemoor, Khan remained a high risk, Mr Brown said.

While his behaviour was noted as “acceptable” with “no recent adjudications”, evidence suggested he continued to harbour extremist attitudes and deliberately “told lies or ticked boxes to achieve progression”.

In March 2017, Khan talked about his Muslim faith with Michael Adebowale, who beheaded Fusilier Rigby, jurors heard.

By June of that year, Khan was regarded as an “influential” terrorist prisoner involved in “extremist bullying”, Mr Brown said.

In October 2018, intelligence on Khan suggested he would “return to his old ways”.

Meanwhile, he was said to have engaged “positively” with Learning Together, jurors heard.

The inquest into the deaths of Ms Jones and Mr Merritt continues.

Read more: Prison chaplain: I may have been ‘conned’ by ‘remorseful’ Fishmongers’ attacker

One of Lee Rigby’s killers is reportedly fighting for life after catching coronavirus.

Michael Adebowale is serving a life sentence for murdering Fusilier Rigby in May 2013 on the streets of Woolwich, south-east London.

The Sun reported that the 29-year-old Islamic terrorist was removed from Broadmoor last week following a deterioration in his condition after he contracted Covid-19.

Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo ran over the 25-year-old soldier close to Woolwich Barracks in May 2013 before stabbing him to death in broad daylight.

The father-of-one died as a result of multiple cut and stab wounds after the attack fuelled by Adebowale and Adebolajo’s extremist beliefs, described as a “betrayal of Islam” at their murder trial in 2014.

Read more: Lee Rigby murder: Murdered soldier is not forgotten, says army colleagues

Two serving prisoners have been handed life sentences for trying to murder a prison officer in an Islamist terrorist attack behind bars.

Brusthom Ziamani, 25, is five years into a 19-year sentence for a 2014 terror plot to behead a soldier inspired by the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

He and fellow Muslim convert Baz Hockton, 26, who was radicalised in jail, attacked prison officer Neil Trundle at maximum security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on January 9.

The victim was left covered in blood after he was stabbed and hit by the pair armed with makeshift bladed weapons and wearing fake suicide belts as they shouted: “Allahu Akbar.”

Nurse Jayle Cowles and prison officer Georgina Ibbotson were also hurt as they tried to intervene.

Ziamani admitted assaulting the two women and he and Hockton were both handed life sentences on Thursday after they were found guilty of attempted murder by an Old Bailey jury.

The terror attack is believed to be the first of its kind inside a UK jail, although a homemade IRA bomb was exploded inside Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast in 1991.

Mrs Justice May said Ziamani must serve a minimum 21 years, while Hockton will serve at least 23 years before he is eligible for parole.

She said: “It is quite plain to me that the defendants must have been planning this terrorist operation for some time, preparing fake suicide belts and multiple weapons for the purpose.

“It is no accident the January 9 attack came just weeks after the London Bridge attack in November 2019, when Usman Khan, himself recently a prisoner at HMP Whitemoor, attacked members of the public shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar’, wearing a fake suicide belt, causing him to be shot at the scene.

An Islamic State fan plotted a “lone wolf” attack on the British army or police using a specially-adapted drone, knives, axes and Japanese “Ninja eggs”, a court has heard.

Hisham Muhammad, 25, amassed an array of weapons at his three-bedroom rented terrace in Whitefield, Bury, including a tomahawk, a machete and bear-claws, the Old Bailey was told.

He had also set about making a prototype of a drone attachment using lollipop sticks to drop a projectile or “harmful” device on his target, it was claimed.

He had allegedly researched police and army bases, including Castle Armoury Barracks in Bury, Greater Manchester, which he visited before his arrest last June.

The Bermudan national, who moved to Britain in 2013, had allegedly helped fund his activities with money from a bogus online escort agency scam.

He was caught after his landlord spotted  “suspicious” items at the defendant’s home including knives, a tub of wires and a soldering iron, the court heard.

Jurors were told his landlord had visited the property after Muhammad and his cousin Faisal Abu Ahmad, 24, had fallen behind with their rent.

In a search, police uncovered the stash of weapons as well as lollipop sticks attached to an electrical component with black tape and various wires, jurors heard.

Some of the components allegedly matched sketches and detailed notes for adapting a drone.

Muhammad’s interest in the devices dated back to late 2017 or early 2018 when he had called next door to retrieve a small drone from his neighbour’s back garden, jurors heard.

Officers also seized two painted eggs containing crushed chilli seeds and shards of glass which were described as Japanese “ninja eggs”.

Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC said Muhammad had steeped himself in “barbarous” Islamic State propaganda as he planned a “lone wolf” attack in Britain.

An examination of Muhammad’s tablet computer revealed an IS video entitled My Revenge had been watched eight times between May 21 and May 30 last year.

Ms Whyte said the video in French justified and encouraged “lone wolf attacks” in France and Europe, and included gruesome footage of executions.

The defendant had trawled the internet for postcodes in Westminster and central Manchester, knives, drones and British armed police, jurors heard.

On May 21 last year, he allegedly researched suicide belts, machetes and Victoria train station which had been part of the scene of the Manchester Arena terror attack a year before.

Two days later, Muhammad visited an army recruitment event in Bury town centre and the nearby Castle Armoury Barracks where expressed an interest in joining up, jurors were told.

It was claimed the defendant went on to Google “weak points of the human body for assault” as well as armed police in UK and Manchester.

In a police interview, Muhammad denied planning an attack, saying he had a “gift from god for making things and liked to innovate”.

The court heard he had cast doubt that the Manchester Arena bombing and Westminster Bridge attack had happened and questioned whether video of Fusilier Lee Rigby’s killing was real.

Ms Whyte told jurors: “We allege Hisham Muhammad intended to commit an act of terrorism – he plainly considered and researched the use of a drone to drop some sort of harmful device.

“That, we say, was always going to present technical challenges and he combined an anticipated use of a drone with plans to use knives or other bladed items in order to stab human targets.

“Whatever his final approach to an adapted drone, by the time of his arrest, he had plainly resolved to commit some sort of knife attack instead.”

Muhammad of Victoria Avenue, Whitefield, Bury, denies engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism.

Abu Ahmad, of the same address, has pleaded not guilty to failing to alert authorities of the alleged attack plan.