Khalid Masood, age 52, attacked London, driving a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and stabbing a police officer who was guarding parliament.
Masood was not born into a Muslim family. His birth name was Adrian Russell Ajao. He was born in Kent to a 17-year-old mother. In school, he was interested in football and parties.
Masood has two daughters with Jane Harvey, his partner with whom he lived in the mid-1990s. He also has a son with another woman.
Most of his noted criminal acts occurred before his conversion to Islam. He was convicted for criminal damage at the age of 18. He also had convictions for assaults, weapon possession, and disturbing public order. At least two of his convictions were for knife-related assaults.
It is unclear exactly when he converted to Islam. In 2004, he married a Muslim woman, Farzana Malik but they separated a few months later as a result of Masood’s abusive actions. By 2005, he was living and working in Saudi Arabia, where he earned qualification to teach English. A few months after returning to the UK from Saudi Arabia, he began to teach English to language learners in Luton.
It is also unclear when he was radicalised; however, he spent time in 3 prisons and told a friend that he had become Muslim in jail.
In the most recent years, he has been moving around the UK with a notable lack of stability. In about the past 5 years, he has lived in Luton, Forest Glen in East London, and Winson Green in Birmingham. Some of that time was spent incarcerated.
At his death, he was married to Rohey Hydara who did not know of the attacks in advance. His wife and mother have both expressed their condolences to the families of the victims and anger at Masood’s actions.
Sources
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/24/khalid-masood-everything-know-london-attacker/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3176192/khalid-masood-ex-wife-violent-psychopath-husband/amp
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rohey-hydara-wife-of-westminster-attacker-khalid-masood-speaks-out_uk_58da03c1e4b018c4606af076
