There were “opportunities galore” to spot that the London Bridge terror attackers were planning an outrage before it happened, an inquest has heard.
Gareth Patterson QC, representing several victims’ families, outlined a number of instances where the three extremists were together and suggested there may have been potential clues to indicate they were plotting an attack.
He suggested to the inquest into the deaths in the atrocity that there were “opportunities galore” to pick up on the planning of the event, and said “there is evidence” that all three perpetrators were in contact with each other in January 2017.
Patterson also suggested to the hearing at the Old Bailey that it would have taken a “significant period of time” for the trio to become so close and trust each other in order to plan an attack.
Eight people were killed and 48 others injured when Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, launched a van and knife attack on June 3 2017.
Xavier Thomas, 45, Christine Archibald, 30, Sara Zelenak, 21, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, Kirsty Boden, 28, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, died in the attack, which lasted less than 10 minutes.
Patterson noted that, in March, all three were at the Ummah fitness centre in east London, they had all been at the same address at some point, and that Butt had possibly been trying to buy a gun.
Investigating officer Acting Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley said he did not agree that there had been missed opportunities surrounding the men and said police would have been working with the intelligence they had.
Patterson pointed to the repeated contacts between the men, including a barbecue at Butt’s home in May at which Redouane was present.
Butt and Redouane were in contact with each other “again and again for months” and in various ways. including at the gym and by telephone, according to Patterson.
He noted that three identical knives were bought by Redouane the day after the barbecue.
Patterson said: “Any reasonably competent investigation should have been looking at Redouane at this stage, I would submit.”
Jolley told the court: “Again, that would depend on the intelligence at that time.”
The inquest heard that Zaghba had been going to Butt’s gym since January and had been in telephone contact with him since that time. He had also been at Butt’s home and was allowed to drive his car.
Patterson said: “All of these things, when pulled together, I would suggest, is crying out to be looked at.”
He also told the court that all three men were at the gym in May “in the dead of night, speaking together in the street” in what he described as a “highly suspicious conversation”.
Patterson also noted that a telephone was placed on the ground before the men began walking and talking during that meeting.
He described this as a “classic anti-surveillance technique” and suggested “the attack planning was there to be detected”.
He added: “A reasonably competent surveillance, I would suggest, would have had Butt monitored up to that point.”
The court was also told that Zaghba had held extremist views from childhood.
He celebrated the 9/11 attacks in the US and had Islamic State flags on his Facebook page, according to writings by his mother.
He also tried to fly abroad to fight for IS, and Jihadist material was found on an SD card which was seized from him when he was stopped at an airport.
The hearing was told this included images of IS flags, scenes where he was joking about al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden, and an online piece about a verse in the Koran which says that non-believers will go to hell.
Dominic Adamson, representing Thomas’s family, said Butt had expressed a desire to travel to Syria and also to hold an attack in the UK.
He said Butt was contemptuous of British culture and accessed extreme material online.
He suggested it was a “reasonable assumption” to think that attack planning had taken place at the gym, to which Jolley replied that he “would always be careful about making assumptions”.
Richard Horwell QC, for the Metropolitan Police, asked: “In the months leading up the attack was there any evidence of any attack planning?”
Jolley replied: “Not that we uncovered, sir, no.”
The court heard that by June 2017, Butt had taken himself off the WhatsApp network and his final status on it read “death is the start, may Allah have mercy on us”.
Members of his family went on to disapprove of the attack, the court heard.
A message from his sister to a friend said: “He’s a f****** idiot. I f****** hate him but he’s my brother.”
A video found by police on a telephone also showed Butt’s uncle condemning the attacks.
The court also heard that the men used multiple telephones and switched the Sim cards for no apparent reason, which is a possible anti-surveillance tactic.
Adamson later suggested there was “a wealth of material available to the security service in October 2016” which showed a “disturbing and dangerous mindset” as far as Butt was concerned.
Chief coroner Mark Lucraft QC adjourned the hearing to Tuesday at 10am so it is not sitting on the second anniversary of the attacks.
He said that everyone’s thoughts are with the families of the victims and the injured and that maybe people could take some time on Monday “to reflect on what happened”.