Woolwich attack: MI5 'offered job to suspect'

[jakeXT]

Source: BBC

MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said.

Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend - one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby's murder in south-east London on Wednesday - had rejected the approach from the security service.

The BBC could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources.

Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22664468

[magellan]

1. They wanted him as an informant

I guess if you can turn someone so radical that they're on your radar, you don't have to worry as much about them going rogue like this guy did.

The friend who was arrested after giving the interview, that was on suspicion of involvement in unrelated terrorist activities.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Woolwich murder sparks anti-Muslim backlash

There has been a huge increase in anti-Muslim incidents since the murder of a British soldier in Woolwich, an inter-faith charity has said.

Faith Matters, which runs a helpline, said they had received 162 calls since Wednesday's attack, up from a daily average of six.

A number of people have been charged after allegedly offensive comments were made on social media websites.
...
Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, said the nature of the incidents ranged from attacks against mosques, graffiti, the pulling off of Muslim women's headscarves and more general name calling and abuse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22664835

[jakeXT]

3. A Pakistani was killed before

A 75-year-old man stabbed to death yards from his home may have been targeted in a racially motivated attack, according to police.

Mohammed Saleem, who used a walking stick, was stabbed three times in the back as he returned home from prayers at his local mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, on Monday night.

The blows were struck with such violence they penetrated to the front of his body.

The father of seven also had no defensive wounds in what has been described as a swift, vicious and cowardly attack by the man leading the murder investigation, Detective Superintendent Mark Payne of West Midlands police.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/02/birmingham-murder-racially-motivated-police

[alp227]

4. The friend has been arrested, The Guardian reports

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/25/woolwich-suspect-kenya-torture