Usman Khan had lived in the Midlands town for a year since his release from prison

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Members of the public in the town where London Bridge attacker Usman Khan lived have spoken of their disbelief over the incident in which two people were killed.

“We are in shock. We didn’t know he existed,” said Canon Michael Neylon, parish priest at Stafford’s St Austin’s Church which neighbours Khan’s flat.

He added: “There are other people that live there as well. But I don’t know anything. We’re just neighbours.”

A police cordon remained in place on Sunday evening outside the three-storey block, in Wolverhampton Road, where it is understood Khan was living after being released from prison on licence in December a year ago.

Play Video 'We're devastated': Cambridge University and residents react to London Bridge attack – video

The 28-year-old was shot dead by officers on Friday after he launched a frenzied knife attack near London Bridge while wearing a hoax suicide bomb vest.

Members of the public tackled him to the ground armed with only a fire extinguisher and whale tusk. Those who died have been named as Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23.

In the Star and Garter Pub, which sits adjacent to Khan’s flat, staff and customers were tightlipped. “I wasn’t here. I didn’t see him. I don’t know anything about him,” a young woman working behind the bar said.

But former civil servant Gregg Barton, who lives opposite, believes he had seen Khan before.

“Being in Stafford, there is not an awful lot of Asian people around,” the 37-year-old said. “It must have been when I was walking into town. He was not somebody I would have usually noticed.”

He described the building he lived in as seeming like a “halfway house” where groups of people could often be seen hanging around in the doorway.

The manager of a nearby takeaway, who did not wish to be named, said he had spoken to Khan about two weeks ago when he came in to pick up an order.

“He got his food and was having a general chit-chat and then he went. He basically asked: ‘How long you have been working here?’ And said: ‘Stafford is a quiet place.’” He said it was “scary” learning of what Khan had done.

Another passerby, who works in mental health and also did not wish to be named, told the Guardian Khan used to work out frequently at Elite 2000, a town centre gym opposite Stafford prison.

“All I know is that he was a nice bloke,” said the man, who knows the gym’s owner and whose clients regularly attend the gym.

“A few people I know have seen him in the gym. They recognised him and he used to speak to them all. He looked completely different to his photo. His beard was nicer.”