Embassy: London Attacker Worked in Saudi Arabia

It's not clear when Masood became radicalized
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 25, 2017 5:55 AM CDT
Embassy: London Attacker Worked in Saudi Arabia
This is an undated photo released by the Metropolitan Police of Khalid Masood.   (Metropolitan Police)

The man who killed four people outside Britain's Parliament was in Saudi Arabia three times and taught English there, the country's UK embassy says. The embassy says Khalid Masood taught English in Saudi Arabia from November 2005 to November 2006 and again from April 2008 to April 2009. The embassy said that he had a work visa, and returned for six days in March 2015. The Saudi Embassy said that he wasn't tracked by the country's security services and didn't have a criminal record there. Before taking the name Masood, he was known as Adrian Ajao and Adrian Elms. He was known for having a violent temper in England and had been convicted at least twice for violent crimes.

Details about how Masood, 52,became radicalized aren't clear, though his time in Saudi Arabia may provide clues, the AP reports. He may also have become exposed to radical views while an inmate in Britain.The Guardian reports that after finishing a prison sentence for slashing a man in the face in 2003, he married a young Muslim woman and changed his name from Elms. One of her relatives tells the Telegraph that the marriage ended because of Masood's violent and controlling behavior. "He was a psychopath and I mean that in the very medical definition of the word, " the relative says. "He came from a nice family, had everything, but there was something very wrong with him." (More Khalid Masood stories.)

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