Fishmongers' Hall victim unwittingly helped terrorist get to London after train cancelled
A victim of the Fishmongers’ Hall terror attack unwittingly stepped in to help the attacker find his way to London after his train was cancelled, an inquest has heard.
Jack Merritt, a 25-year-old Cambridge University graduate, was killed by Usman Khan at a prisoner rehabilitation conference in Fishmongers’ Hall near London Bridge in 2019.
Mr Merritt, who this week was praised as a “force for good in the world” and a “true visionary” in his work of criminal justice reform, worked with Khan after his 2018 release from prison for terror offences.
On the day of the attack, Khan left his home in Stafford to attend a workshop run by Mr Merritt and Simon Larmour at the charity Learning Together. Mr Larmour told the inquest that Khan called him “panicking” because his 7:39am train to London Euston was cancelled.
“He was very erratic,” Mr Larmour said. “I was trying to understand what was going on and it was hard to understand him. He kept just rambling on and he was very difficult to understand.”
Mr Merritt, who was standing next to Mr Larmour as he took the phone call, then stepped in to help Khan find another train route to get to London.
Khan later boarded a separate train and sounded “more relaxed” as he started his journey to London Euston, Mr Larmour said.
Shortly before 2pm that day, Khan launched his attack in Fishmongers’ Hall armed with two knives which he used to stab Mr Merritt 12 times.
Doctors tried to save Mr Merritt’s life by commencing open heart surgery in the street outside Fishmongers’ Hall, but he was declared dead shortly after 3pm.
The evidence formed part of the third day of the inquest into the death of Mr Merritt and Saskia Jones, Khan’s second victim.
The convicted terrorist also targeted Isobel Rowbotham, a student at Anglia Ruskin University who worked with Mr Merritt and Ms Jones and knew of Khan before the attack.
Miss Rowbotham told the inquest that she saw Khan walking towards her with two large knives and pleaded “No Usman please don’t” before he started repeatedly stabbing her.
“When it was obvious that he wasn't going to stop, I just tried to hunch and protect myself,” Miss Rowbotham said. “He started stabbing me. It felt more like punches, just a lot of repeated punches.
“Then he left. I remember his final stabs were in my neck. It felt like he thought they were the final stabs, like they were intended to finish me.
“I decided to play dead in case he came back and realised I wasn’t dead straight away.”
Ama Otchere, a housekeeper at Fishmongers’ Hall who was working on the day of the attack, described the moment she saw Khan leave the male toilets after stabbing Mr Merritt.
As Ms Orchere approached the toilets, where she could hear someone crying, Khan walked out with two knives in his hands and put his finger to his mouth telling her to be quiet.
Khan then turned to Ms Jones, who was putting her coat away in the cloakroom, and stabbed her in the neck whilst reciting lines from the Quran in Arabic, Ms Orchere told the jury.
The inquest continues.
