Streatham Terror Attack: What Do We Know?

Police have searched residential addresses in connection with the latest terror attack in London.

No arrests have been made, as enquires continue to move "at pace" following the incident, a Metropolitan Police statement said.

Twenty-year-old Sudesh Amman stabbed two people in Streatham High Road in south London on Sunday in what has been labelled an Islamist-related terrorist incident.

He was shot dead by police.

It is understood he was wearing a hoax device.

The two victims were taken to the hospital shortly after the attack, at approximately 14:00 GMT.

Another person was injured by glass as a result of a police officer discharging a firearm.

None have life-threatening injuries and one has been discharged from hospital.

Amman had been under active police surveillance after a previous terror-related conviction.

He was jailed in December 2018 for possessing and distributing terrorist documents, but had recently been released.

The incident has prompted renewed concerns about how convicted terrorists are dealt with in the justice system.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will announce "further plans for fundamental changes" to the system for dealing with convicted terrorists.

There were calls for systematic changes after last year's London Bridge attacker was found to have had a previous terror conviction. 

Plans for a new bill on measures to prevent attacks by terror-offenders were put forward after the November 2019 attack, which claimed the lives of Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt.

In recent weeks, the Government has committed to introducing new laws by mid-March aimed at increasing the minimum sentence for serious terrorism offences to 14 years and ending automatic early release from prison.

The Home Office has also pledged to:

• Double the number of counter-terrorism probation officers.  
• Make more places available in probation hostels so authorities can monitor terrorists in the weeks after they are released from prison.  
• Increase counter-terrorism policing funding by £90 million year-on-year for the coming year to £906 million.  
• Give an immediate £500,000 cash injection for support for victims of terrorism and a review of services available.  
• Provide more specialist psychologists and trained imams who help to assess the risk of radicalised offenders.  
• Offer more training for front-line prison and probation staff to identify and challenge extremism behind bars and on licence.

The use of lie detector tests, also known as polygraphs, is also being considered - to prove that a convicted terrorist has reformed or is not planning to carry out another attack, before they are released on licence.

Terrorists deemed not to be a risk would have to serve two-thirds of their sentence before the Parole Board could consider them for release.

Cover image: The aftermath of the Streatham attack (Picture: PA).