First photo of London terrorist Khalid Mosood as a teenager in 1980

The Telegraph has obtained the first photo of Khalid Masood, the terrorist responsible for the Westminster attack.

He is photographed with school friends who were taking part in a charity five-a-side tournament. The picture was taken around 1980, when Masood, who was known as Adrian Ajao was around 15-years-old.

Almost 40 years later, he would go on to wreak havoc at the heart of British democracy, murdering four innocent people. Masood was born Adrian Elms and used the name Adrian Ajao, his stepfather Philip's surname during his school years.

In the photograph, Masood is sixth from the left in the back row. His arms are folded and he gives no clue as to the murderous path he would take. Masood went to Huntley School for Boys in Tunbridge Wells in Kent where he grew up.

One of his teammates in the picture, Kenton Till said he was an extremely popular pupil, who was bright and sporty.

"We were quite close for a few years. The picture was taken when we were taking part in a 24-hour five-a-side tournament for charity," Mr Till said.

"Adrian was a bloody good footballer, one of the best players in the school. He was one of those kids who was very popular. He had a big personality and everyone liked him." 

"He was very bright and very good at chemistry. I think he wanted to do something like that after he left school. We lost touch eventually. I remember he came to a New Year's party at my house but he was with a group of lads who were drunk and on something and my parents asked them to leave. After that we sort of lost touch.

"This has come as a huge shock to me, it is hard to take in that this is the same bloke"It was after school that Masood's life appeared to go off the rails, with him getting involved in petty and violent crime. At 19 he received his first conviction for criminal damage. He went on to receive a string of convictions over the next 20-years.

Mosood may have eventually snapped because of racism in his village leading him to slash the face of a cafe owner. It is thought he may have then been radicalised while in jail, eventually leading to his involvement in terrorism.

 

Reports emerged on Friday that the Muslim convert had recently become a grandfather, after neighbours said that the daughter of his wife had just had a baby.

Records suggest that Masood, who had given his occupation as an English tutor on several forms over the years, was married to a 39-year-old woman named Rohey Hydara, who lives in an Olympic Village apartment in east London.

 

Neighbours confirmed that Hydara lived in the flat and said she and her 14-year-old brother had seen Masood several weeks ago. Vera Amade, a 21-year-old mother of two said.

"My brother saw him a few times quite recently in the last few weeks. It was definitely him, the woman has two kids, one of the daughters has just had a baby. They all live in the same flat. She was quite polite, there was nothing bad to say about her.  

"He was really nice and polite as well, he was very pleasant. I'm very shocked. We were watching it on TV last night and trying to figure out if it was definitely him and it is. 

"He was always dressed in a suit, I don't know what he did for a living. He used to come back from work at about five or six. We can't believe it, it's shocking."

Masood went off the rails in July 2000, slashing a man across the face after an argument that had "racial overtones". The attack would land him in jail and his life, already in a fragmented state, would fall apart. In another attack three years later, he stabbed a man in the nose before reportedly travelling to Saudi Arabia.

 

The extraordinary revelations will cause deep unease. Elms – or Masood, the Islamic name he adopted – was known to the authorities as  a vicious thug whose ‘violent extremism’ had brought him to the attention of MI5. Yet at some point a decision was taken that he was no longer considered a threat.

 

Source: The Telegraph