Westminster attack inquests - latest updates: Coroner gives conclusions on how victims of terror attacker Khalid Masood died
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The inquests into the deaths of the victims of the Westminster attack are due to conclude.
Chief coroner Mark Lucraft QC is due to give his conclusions at the Old Bailey on the deaths of four civilians and police officer Keith Palmer, who were murdered by terrorist Khalid Masood.
He will consider whether factors including security at the Houses of Parliament, the lack of barriers on Westminster Bridge, police body armour and security service investigations into Masood played a role in their deaths.
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On Tuesday the court heard closing submissions, with Jonathan Hough QC, for the coroner, saying the inquests should conclude all five victims were unlawfully killed.
He said: “Each was murdered in a terrorist atrocity which was no less brutal for its lack of sophistication.”
Masood, 52, drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge on March 22 last year, killing American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, Aysha Frade, 44, and Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea, 31.
He then stormed through gates near the Houses of Parliament and fatally stabbed Pc Palmer with two knives.
In his closing argument, Gareth Patterson QC, for families of victims on the bridge, urged the coroner to make a report on the circumstances of the case to “protect the public”.
On the role of MI5, whose knowledge of Masood has been heavily scrutinised, he said: “We do think there is room for improvement in terms of decision-making.”
He suggested security services should look again at when to investigate suspects and when to stop, and to take account of violent backgrounds.
Mr Patterson also called for the Government to “try again” with tightening rules for hiring cars.
Dominic Adamson, representing PC Palmer's widow Michelle, said that there was “a systematic failure” in protecting unarmed officers on guard at the Palace of Westminster.
He told the coroner: “In my submission it is very clear that you can be satisfied that as a result of those failures the consequences for Pc Palmer were that there was a substantial loss of the opportunities for him to be saved.”
No firearms officer had been near Carriage Gates, where Pc Palmer was on duty, for nearly an hour before Masood's attack.
Susannah Stevens, representing the officer's family, said: “If there had been authorised firearms officers present at that time, in our submission, on the balance of probabilities they would have been able to prevent a loss of an opportunity of saving Pc Palmer's life.
”Or to put it another way, on the balance of probabilities, their absence contributed to Pc Palmer's death.“
The court will hear further closing submissions in the morning, before the coroner begins giving his conclusions.
Masood's wife covertly recorded conversations including Masood speaking about Isis, and said he had weapons by his bed and in his car
On Facetime on 21 March Masood said he was spending a night with a friend and on the next morning she received "relatively normal" text messages. At 2.30pm she received the "Jihad" document and messaged him to receive no respond
When she saw pictures of the attacker on the ground she immediately identified her husband and called police
She said she knew he had anger issues but did not believe him capable of the attack
Tests found Masood had taken steroids in the week before the attack but not exactly when
Examinations found that he was not suffering from a psychotic disorder and was thinking "logically and rationally" at the time of the attack
Police initially arrested several people including Masood's wife for questioning but found no indication of anyone else being involved in or aware of his plan
Judge Lucraft says the police investigation showed that Masood acted alone.
"Witness L", an MI5 agent who gave evidence anonymously, said a review of their intelligence and operational improvement was undertaken
MI5 had around 3,000 subjects of interest at the time, 20,000 closed SOIs and 500 live investigations at the time of the attack
The review found that Masood's contact details were found with a number of SOIs but there was no suggestion he was involved in their activities and it would not have been "proportionate" to identify him
In 2009 a person called Khalid Masood was identified as assisting terrorist travel to Pakistan, but they were found not to be the same person and his "holding code" was downgraded
By December 2010 MI5 found no evidence he was involved in violent extremism and he was closed as an SOI. There was intelligence he was involved with SOIs but only "on the margins" and nothing to say he was involved in attack planning
Between 2012 and 2016 he appeared "intermittently" as a contact of SOIs but there was no intelligence he was a member of al-Muhajiroun or planning attacks
It was reported he expressed "contentment" with 9/11 and other attacks but MI5 said such statements were "depressingly common" and not sufficient to reopen or launch an SOI investigation
At the time, MI5 did not record the reasons for closing SOI investigations. That protocol has since changed
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