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London attacker former teacher in Saudi Arabia: Report

Friday, 24 March 2017 7:58 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 25 March 2017 9:38 AM ]

Khalid Masood is treated by emergency services outside the Houses of Parliament in London on March 22, 2017, after he carried out a deadly attack on Westminster Bridge. (Photo by Reuters)

The man who carried out a deadly car ramming and stabbing attack near the UK Houses of Parliament was a former English teacher working at the institution controlling Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation, a report says.

Citing a copy of Khalid Masood’s CV, Britain’s The Sun daily made the revelation in a report published on Friday.

Masood, who reportedly received his first conviction in 1983 at the age of 19, was found guilty in a string of other criminal cases until 2003, a year before he gained a TESOL certificate that allowed him to take up teaching positions in the Saudi city of Yanbu in 2005 and subsequently at Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Jeddah.

Five months after his return to the UK in spring 2009, he started working as a “senior English teacher” at a TEFL college in Luton.

A handout picture released by the British Metropolitan Police Service in London on March 24, 2017 shows Khalid Masood (AKA Adrian Elms, Adrian Russell Ajao), the 52-year-old Briton behind the March 22 terror attack on Westminster Bridge.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in London has confirmed that the London terror attacker was in the Middle Eastern country three times.

Khalid Masood taught English in Saudi Arabia from November 2005 to November 2006 and again from April 2008 to April 2009, said a Saudi embassy statement released late Friday.

The embassy also said in a statement on its Twitter account on Friday that during his time in the Arab country, “Masood did not appear on the security services' radar and does not have a criminal record in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

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People light candles on a patch of sand during a vigil in Trafalgar Square in central London on March 23, 2017 in solidarity with the victims of the March 22 terror attack at the British parliament and on Westminster Bridge. (Photo by AFP)

Earlier on Friday, media reports said Masood was once investigated by MI5 for violent extremism but was discounted as a threat.

The Wednesday attack near the British parliament premises on Westminster Bridge left four people dead and at least 50 others injured. The assailant was later shot dead by police.

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

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