Usman Khan

In April 2020 the CTC Sentinel published a paper over the extent to which fear of recidivism was "overblown". It described Khan, and another recent terrorism recidivist, as "eye-catching outliers", arguing that less than 5% of terrorists such as Khan attack again.

Khan was a supporter of Al-Muhajiroun, the group led by Anjem Choudary, which has been dubbed Britain's "most prolific and dangerous extremist group". He was said to be inspired by Al-Qaeda. Khan's solicitor Vajahat Sharif claimed that Khan had become disillusioned with Al-Muhajiroun and that during his prison sentence he had repeatedly requested the help of a deradicaliser, to no avail. Sharif said that in 2018 Khan appeared to be rehabilitated, and that he may have been "re-groomed" by extremists after his release.

Khan spent some part of his teenage years in Pakistan. According to the British Parliament's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation 2013 report, Khan travelled to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan before his eventual December 2010 arrest.

Under the indeterminate sentence, Khan would have remained in prison for as long as it was felt necessary to keep the public safe. However, Khan's original sentence was quashed. Along with Nazam Hussain and Mohammed Shahjahan, also from Stoke, Khan appealed against the sentences and had the indeterminate sentences dropped by the Court of Appeal in 2013. Lord Justice Leveson found the original decision had "wrongly characterised" the three men as more dangerous than the other defendants. Khan was then sentenced to a 16-year term which allowed him to be automatically released after serving eight years. Khan was allowed to leave Belmarsh Prison on temporary release licence in December 2018. Following his release, Stafford Borough Council provided suitable accommodation for Khan, though the Ministry of Justice said "multiple agencies" were involved in his housing.

Khan received an indeterminate sentence in 2012 with a minimum term of eight years. At sentencing, the judge said that Khan and his Stoke-on-Trent associates were "more serious jihadis" who operated "at a higher level of efficacy and commitment than the rest" —the other six convicts.

In 2012, after being convicted of offences related to a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange, Khan was sentenced to be kept in prison for an indeterminate time. This meant that he could not be released whilst he was still considered to be a danger to the public. Following an appeal in 2013, his indeterminate sentence was quashed, and in its place he was given a 16-year prison sentence, which meant he would be entitled to automatic release on licence after having served eight years. Questions were also raised about the level of monitoring he was subject to by the authorities responsible after his release. The Parole board confirmed that it had no involvement in deciding when Khan was released from prison, saying Khan "appears to have been released automatically on licence" even though he had a "serious long-term plan" and a commitment to terrorism.

Following his recent return from Pakistan, Khan was one of a group of nine men arrested in 2010 who were the focus of MI5's anti-terror Operation Guava and all pleaded guilty in 2012 to Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism offences, which included plans to bomb the London Stock Exchange, the Houses of Parliament, the US embassy, two rabbis at two synagogues, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, the home of then London Mayor Boris Johnson, build a terrorist training camp in land Khan's family owns in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, attending terrorism related operational meetings, preparing to travel abroad, and assisting others in travelling abroad for terrorist activities. Khan, like all the others, envisioned returning to the UK from their Kashmiri training camp, together with future recruits, to engage in unspecified terror attacks.

Khan proposed to raise funds in the UK as opposed to overseas, arguing supporters in the UK earn in a day what donors in Kashmir earn in a month. He added: "On Jobseeker's Allowance we can earn that, never mind working for that." His home bugged by MI5, he was recorded calling non-Muslims "dogs." Following his arrest, Khan admitted travelling to the plotter's 2010 tactical meetings in Cardiff in November and in Newport in December. Khan's plans to build a terror-training camp in Kashmir never materialised and "there was no evidence that there was any real funding to build it". The group had formed in October. The terror network's organisational chart was found in Khan's home. In addition to confessing to terrorism planning, Khan admitted terrorism fundraising and possession of the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire.

Khan dropped out of school and preached for al-Muhajiroun. He became a community organiser, helping to put together a sharia law conference in 2009.

Khan's home in Stoke-on-Trent was raided by counter-terrorist police in 2008. Khan was interviewed by the BBC in 2008, when he denied being a terrorist; he issued the same denials to a local paper using a false name. He was 17 at the time, but following a 20-month investigation, it was determined there was insufficient evidence, was not charged.

Usman Khan (Urdu: خان عثمان ‎; 10 March 1991 – 29 November 2019), also known as Abu Saif, was a British terrorist who was convicted of plotting a terrorist attack in 2012 and who was shot dead by City of London Police after being restrained by members of the public whilst committing a knife attack near London Bridge on 29 November 2019, during which he killed two and injured three.

Khan was born on 10 March 1991 in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom, to Pakistani immigrant parents. He attended Haywood High School.