The catalogue of failures that allowed Usman Khan to kill

The inquest into the murder of Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt by Islamist terrorist Usman Khan has revealed a collision of arrogance, hubris, naïveté and incompetence from which the two graduates arguably paid with their lives.

Saskia and Jack were attached to a prison education programme supported by Cambridge University called ‘Learning Together’. The scheme, which appears not to have been formally evaluated, inspected or risk assessed by its creators – and had no clear rehabilitation purpose – placed criminology students from the university alongside prisoners on a study programme. In late 2017, at High Security HMP Whitemoor, Khan – an active threat to prison staff – was allowed to join this group. He later became a ‘poster boy’ for the organisation, even appearing in promotional videos.

The decision by Learning Together and the prison authorities to allow his participation launched predator and victims on a fatal trajectory. On 29 November 2019, 11 months after his release from prison, Khan attended an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the scheme at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall.