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Mother of Streatham Terrorist Gunned Down by Police Tells Inquest He Asked Her to Find Girl to Marry

© Photo : Metropolitan PoliceSudesh Amman, armed with a knife, is seen running along Streatham High Road shortly before being shot by police
Sudesh Amman, armed with a knife, is seen running along Streatham High Road shortly before being shot by police - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.08.2021
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In February 2020 Sudesh Amman was shot dead by police officers after he stabbed two people in a south London street. Amman had been released from prison only a week before the attack.
The mother of Sudesh Amman has told his inquest how he asked her to find him a girl to marry only days before his death.
Haleema Khan told an inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London she saw him on 30 July - three days before he died - and she said: “He told me to find a girl to marry. I told him I would ask around with a few people.”
Sudesh Amman, 20, was under 24-hour surveillance by armed officers when he grabbed a 20cm kitchen knife from a shop before running out and stabbing two people in Streatham High Road, south London on 2 February 2020.
© Photo : Metropolitan PoliceSudesh Amman (circled) in Streatham High Road moments before he began his attack
Sudesh Amman (circled) in Streatham High Road moments before he began his attack - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021
Sudesh Amman (circled) in Streatham High Road moments before he began his attack
He was then shot dead and was found to be wearing a fake suicide bomb belt.
Mrs Khan said on the last time she saw him he pointed out a woman in a kebab shop and said he thought she was an undercover police officer who was following him and he pointed out a motorcyclist who he also thought was following him.
She said he texted her on the day he died and asked her to pray for him.
Then at 1.30pm on 2 February he texted her and she called him back and he told her he was going to the shop to buy some food.
“Sudesh said he loved me. He said ‘bye, bye, I love you mummy’,” said Mrs Khan, but she said he had said this before.
Less than half an hour later he had been shot dead by police after stabbing two people.
© Photo : Metropolitan PoliceSurveillance officers prepare to shoot knife-wielding terrorist Sudesh Amman in Streatham in February 2020
Surveillance officers prepare to shoot knife-wielding terrorist Sudesh Amman in Streatham in February 2020 - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021
Surveillance officers prepare to shoot knife-wielding terrorist Sudesh Amman in Streatham in February 2020
The senior police officer leading the investigation into Amman's release from prison, who has been identified only as HA6, said they were worried about his actions in the days before the attack, including praying in the street outside a fast food restaurant in Croydon.  
On Friday HA6 was questioned by Rajiv Menon QC, counsel for the Amman family, about why Sudesh Amman had not been arrested on 31 January when he bought items for his fake suicide belt.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, HA6 admitted arresting Amman for “preparing terrorist acts” was “an option.”
But he said they decided it was a better decision not to arrest him but to look at “long-term ways of disrupting him.”
Mr Menon suggested he made the “wrong call”, which HA6 denied and said they felt it was the best way to “manage the risk”.
Mr Menon said: “He stabbed two members of the public. That wasn’t managing the risk….What we know certain is that those two people wouldn’t have been stabbed if he had been arrested for preparing terrorist acts.”
HA6 said in his experience if he had been arrested Amman would have been released back into the community, having convinced the authorities his purchases at Poundland were “innocuous” and then the police would have “lost their advantage” because Amman would have been more aware he was under surveillance.
​HA6 said: “Given the threat this individual presented it could have been far far worse had it happened at a later date.”
On Thursday, 5 August, the inquest heard MI5 and the police believed it was a case of “when, not if” Amman would attack the public after his release from prison.
Carina Heckroodt, Head of the London Extremism, Gangs & Organised Crime Unit said a meeting was held before Amman was released and he was deemed a “high threat” and it was "suspected he would use a knife to carry out an attack."
© Photo : Metropolitan PoliceOne of the Irn Bru bottles which was wrapped in foil as part of the fake suicide belt
One of the Irn Bru bottles which was wrapped in foil as part of the fake suicide belt - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021
One of the Irn Bru bottles which was wrapped in foil as part of the fake suicide belt
Earlier this week the inquest heard prison officers had warned Sudesh Amman “retained extremist views” throughout his time in jail.
The coroner, Mr Justice Hilliard, told the inquest Amman had been convicted of sharing terrorist material in December 2018 and was jailed for three years but was released in January 2020, after serving half his sentence.
Amman was originally from Harrow in north London but was staying at a bail hostel in Streatham at the time of the attack.
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