CCTV of suspected Islamist terrorist Ali Harbi Ali just hours before murder of Sir David Amess

CCTV footage shows a man understood to be suspected Islamist terrorist Ali Harbi Ali walking along a street in North London just hours before Conservative MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death at a constituency meeting in Essex.

The video appears to show the 25-year-old, who is being held by police on suspicion of the murder of Sir David, walking slowly along the pavement on Friday morning while carrying a backpack and wearing a green parka jacket and spectacles, with his left hand in his pocket.

It is understood the footage was filmed from outside a convenience store on Highgate Road at 8.44am. Ali, who lived a few streets away, is thought to have been walking to Gospel Oak train station at the time.

Police are currently investigating Ali’s movements in the hours leading up to the attack and are looking into whether he boarded a train at Gospel Oak to travel to Leigh-on-Sea, where Sir David was holding a routine constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church.

The 69-year-old veteran Tory, a devout Catholic and prominent supporter of Brexit who was first elected to Parliament in 1983, was knifed on Friday afternoon. It is believed the suspected Islamist terrorist may have chosen his victim at random having become obsessed with killing any MP. 

The shop manager told Sky News that police had asked to see the CCTV footage on Saturday morning. He said they specifically asked to see a timeframe of between 8.30am and 9am and that he had handed over a copy of the video. 

Former friends have claimed the man suspected of murdering Sir David became radicalised watching YouTube videos of convicted hate preacher Anjem Choudary with police and MI5 also looking whether Sir David was chosen due to his support for Qatar, which has been controversially exerting its influence in Somalia, the country of his diplomat father’s birth.

He is alleged to have shown an interest in radical Islam and was referred to the flagship anti-extremism scheme, Prevent, which aims to stop individuals becoming terrorists, believed to be when he was in his late teens. But there are major questions after his behaviour was not considered to be extreme enough to alert MI5. These referrals are not currently mandatory. 

It comes as Boris Johnson sat shoulder to shoulder with Sir Keir Starmer and MPs from all parties at an emotional church service for Sir David this evening, as religious leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, led a service of prayer and remembrance for the Conservative.  

The congregation – including Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, who wiped his eyes as Home Secretary Priti Patel turned her gaze to the ground a few seats away – knelt while prayers were read by individuals including the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell. 

Mr Welby remembered the MPs who had been killed before Sir David, including Labour’s Jo Cox, and thanked politicians for the risk they take serving the public.

MPs spoke in lowered voices at the end of the service, following the Prime Minister as they filing out of the church as organ music played. The bells of St Margaret’s were rung half-muffled to mark the end of the service, as the politicians slowly made their way out to the streets of Westminster.

It comes as: 

Boris Johnson told the Commons that Southend will be accorded city status in honour of Sir David; Ali was referred to Prevent – but not considered ‘extreme enough’ to be passed on to MI5;Friends warned he was becoming an extremist and was whipped up by Anjem Choudary’s YouTube videos;Spies and police scour suspect’s family connections to Somalia and Kenya for any clues and whether Sir David’s campaigning for Qatar could form part of killer’s motive;But one government insider claimed: ‘He was unlucky. He was not targeted because of his political party. David Amess was not specifically targeted’;Westminster politicians are split over whether police should protect them at constituency events or if private security should be deployed instead;MPs this afternoon paid tribute to Sir David Amess as politicians on all sides grieve his death;Dominic Raab said he has had serious threats to his life – and admitted he is open to discussion on MPs wearing stab vests at eventsSenior Tory Tobias Ellwood has called on constituency meetings being paused. 

Police and intelligence officials are said to be mystified about why the 69-year-old Tory politician was singled out for attack by a suspected Islamist extremist. Reports had initially suggested that Sir David, a devout Roman Catholic and prominent Brexiteer who was MP for Southend West, had been selected because of his political views or religion.

Investigators now believe that there may have been no specific motive for the targeting of Sir David, and that the 69-year-old was stabbed to death because his alleged killer had succeeded in booking a face-to-face meeting with him at a church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday.

It was revealed today that the father of the terror suspect was given death threats by jihadis and ‘despises terrorists’ after being intimidated by al-Shabaab extremists in his native Somalia. 

Harbi Ali Kullane was once a spin doctor for the prime minister of Somalia before fleeing the country for London just before his eldest son Ali was born in Southwark in 1996. He went on to have three more children with his wife.

A security source said: ‘He was quite involved in countering al-Shabaab’s message in his role as comms director, and he received death threats from them for doing so, which is common for anyone involved in a high-profile position in the Government’.

But his son was referred to an official deradicalisation course after a teacher spotted his extremist views at least five years ago after becoming a ‘huge fan’ of hate preacher Anjem Choudary – and this may go some way to explaining why he is estranged from his parents.

The same insider told the Telegraph: ‘He (Harbi Ali Kullane) himself despises terrorists, so it would be hard to imagine how his son has become radicalised as a result’.

Mr Kullane has reportedly been spoken to by counter-terrorism police from Scotland Yard with specialists working with MI5 and MI6 to analysing his phone to see if it offers any explanation for his son’s motive or his movements in the days and hours before the Tory MP was murdered in a Leigh-on-Sea church. 

Sources close to the investigation believe Ali may have considered killing other MPs, including Labour and Tory politicians, before picking Sir David, according to The Telegraph. One government insider told the paper: ‘He was unlucky. He was not targeted because of his political party. David Amess was not specifically targeted.’

The revelation raises urgent questions about the mentoring scheme and whether an opportunity was missed to avert the MP’s horrific murder.

Police are also investigating the alleged close ties between Sir David and Qatar. The Tory MP was chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Gulf state and returned from his latest visit there on Wednesday last week. The man being questioned over the stabbing is the son of a former adviser to the office of the Prime Minister of Somalia. Qatar supports the present Somali President. Security sources told The Times that all avenues were being explored in the case.

Last night former friends of Ali, a British national of Somali heritage who grew up in a three-bed 1980s terrace house in Croydon with his mother, two sisters and brother, claimed he was radicalised after watching YouTube videos of convicted hate preacher Anjem Choudary. Speaking to The Sun, they claimed the videos turned Ali from a ‘popular pupil into an extremist’.

Sir David’s family said their hearts had been ‘shattered’ by his ‘cruel and violent death’ at a constituency surgery in Essex. They said they could not understand why the ‘patriot and a man of peace’ was targeted by a knifeman he had never met.

The 69-year-old father of five was ambushed at his Friday meeting with the public and stabbed 17 times in a frenzied attack.

In a heartbreaking statement his family called for people to ‘set aside hatred’, adding: ‘Nobody should die in that way. Nobody. Whatever one’s race, religious or political beliefs, be tolerant and try to understand. We are absolutely broken, but we will survive and carry on for the sake of a wonderful and inspiring man.’

Sir David’s heartbroken wife and children today visited the church where the Tory politician was stabbed to death. His widow Julia Amess wiped away tears as she read messages of love for her late husband outside the Belfairs Methodist Church along with two of their five children this morning – hours before Boris Johnson revealed the Queen has given Sir David’s beloved Southend-on-Sea city status in his memory.

Mrs Amess, who also worked for her husband as a part-time caseworker for his Southend West constituency, came to mourn her husband hours after the family said that their hearts had been ‘shattered’ by his ‘cruel and violent death’ at a constituency surgery in Essex. They said they could not understand why the ‘patriot and a man of peace’ was targeted by a knifeman he had never met.

The Prime Minister led a sombre procession of around 800 politicians as they filed in to a church service to remember their murdered colleague, Sir David. Wearing black suits, dresses, and facemasks, the MPs and peers walked from Parliament to St Margaret’s Church in Westminster Abbey, central London. Ministers followed Mr Johnson and took their seats in the pews while organ music filled the church. 

MPs and peers fell silent as the service to remember Sir David Amess at St Margaret’s in Westminster Abbey began. Politicians from all parties, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and Lisa Nandy sat in the rows behind Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who sat on the front row nearby Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of Sir David as a ‘friend to his constituents’ who had a ‘robust fairness of spirit and charity of heart’ which endeared him to MPs from all parties. 

Justin Welby said: ‘He was of the best, and his name will be remembered with Airey Neave, Robert Bradford, Anthony Berry, Ian Gow and Jo Cox, those MPs murdered since 1945, and others – like Andrew Pennington – who have died in the course of public service.

‘Public service in politics is a sacrifice that should be honoured and respected, even when differences of opinion run very deep indeed.’

Sir David had walked his daughter Flo down the aisle in 2019 and she was at her mother’s side today with her American husband Shawn. Flo’s sister Katie, an actress and model, also came to look at the flowers and mourn her father while supported by her husband, the Southend rapper Verses Bang. But Alexandra, who the MP gave away at her wedding in August, daughter Sarah and son David Jr were not at the church today.

Julia cried as she viewed the huge number of floral tributes piled outside the church where her husband was stabbed to death. Family members comforted one another, with one placing an arm around her, and they stayed for around 15 minutes.

The minister of Belfairs, Rev Clifford Newman, hugged Sir David’s widow during the family visit to the church. The six visitors bowed their heads and formed a semi-circle around the churchman as he gave a short private address.

It came hours before the Queen granted the veteran politician his 20-year wish of Southend becoming a city as the Commons gathered to express its grief at his killing.

Mr Johnson told a packed chamber the attack on the Tory veteran had been ‘contemptible’ and struck at the ‘core’ of what it means to be an MP as colleagues paid emotional tributes.

He insisted that the fundamental functions of democracy would not be damaged by the murder of ‘one of the nicest, kindest and most gentle’ individuals ever to have sat in the House. 

Mr Johnson said all MPs mourn with Sir David’s family, adding in the Commons: ‘Sir David was taken from us in a contemptible act of violence striking at the core of what it is to be a member of this House, and violating both the sanctity of the church in which he was killed and the constituency surgery that is so essential to our representative democracy.

‘But we will not allow the manner of Sir David’s death in any way to detract from his accomplishments as a politician or as a human being.

‘Sir David was a patriot who believed passionately in this country, in its people and in its future. He was also one of the nicest, kindest and most gentle individuals ever to grace these benches.’ 

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, is being held by police on suspicion of murdering the veteran Conservative MP as he met with his Southend West constituents on Friday afternoon. It is believed the suspected Islamist terrorist may have chosen his victim at random having become obsessed with killing any MP.

His friends have claimed he was further radicalised and turned into a lone-wolf killer during lockdown watching YouTube videos of convicted hate preacher Anjem Choudary with police and MI5 also looking whether Sir David was chosen due to his support for Qatar, which has been exerting its influence in Somalia, the country of his diplomat father’s birth.

Ali, the son of a former Somalian diplomat who was born in Britain and raised in Croydon, was referred to the flagship anti-extremism scheme, Prevent, which aims to stop individuals becoming terrorists. But there are major questions after his behaviour was not considered to be extreme enough to alert MI5. These referrals are not currently mandatory.

He is alleged to have shown an interest in radical Islam and was referred to Prevent, believed to be when he was in his late teens. He decided to move in with an aunt and her sons in a council house in the upmarket North London enclave of Kentish Town, in a street of £2million three-storey townhouses. 

His referral is understood to have coincided with a deterioration in his relationship with his Somali-born parents. Ali’s parents split up when he was young and his father returned to Somalia. One neighbour, who has known the family for twenty years, said that Ali spoke of hopes of becoming a doctor with the NHS, saying: ‘He told me he’d been doing exams and he seemed westernised.’ 

Police and intelligence officials are said to be mystified about why the 69-year-old Tory politician was singled out for attack by a suspected Islamist extremist. Reports had initially suggested that Sir David, a devout Roman Catholic and prominent Brexiteer who was MP for Southend West, had been selected because of his political views or religion.

Investigators now believe that there may have been no specific motive for the targeting of Sir David, and that the 69-year-old was stabbed to death because his alleged killer had plotted to kill any national politician – and had succeeded in booking a face-to-face meeting with him at a church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday. 

Sources close to the investigation believe Ali may have considered killing other MPs, including Labour and Tory politicians, before picking Sir David, according to The Telegraph. One government insider told the paper: ‘He was unlucky. He was not targeted because of his political party. David Amess was not specifically targeted.’ 

The revelation raises urgent questions about the mentoring scheme and whether an opportunity was missed to avert the MP’s horrific murder. 

Police are also investigating the alleged close ties between Sir David and Qatar. The Tory MP was chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Gulf state and returned from his latest visit there on Wednesday last week. The man being questioned over the stabbing is the son of a former adviser to the office of the Prime Minister of Somalia. Qatar supports the present Somali President. Security sources told The Times that all avenues were being explored in the case. 

Last night former friends of Ali, a British national of Somali heritage who grew up in a three-bed 1980s terrace house in Croydon with his mother, two sisters and brother, claimed he was radicalised after watching YouTube videos of convicted hate preacher Anjem Choudary. Speaking to The Sun, they claimed the videos turned Ali from a ‘popular pupil into an extremist’. 

Detectives meanwhile have been interviewing the father of murder suspect Ali at a home in North London. One former friend, Harbi Farah, told The Sun: ‘I have known his dad Harbi for more than ten years. He’s a good man and this will be very upsetting for him. He’s a well-respected member of the Somali community in Britain and also in Somalia.’