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The devastated dad of a young man killed in Friday's London Bridge terror attack has accused Boris Johnson of exploiting his death.

David Merritt, whose son Jack was stabbed to death by Usman Khan, blasted the Prime Minister for trying to make political gain from the killing.

He said Jack, 25, would not have agreed with "vile propaganda" promoted by the Tories in the aftermath of the attack.

He and fellow Cambridge University graduate Saskia Jones, 23, were working at a conference organised by the Learning Together programme when they were murdered.

The organisation was set up to help with the rehabilitation of offenders through learning.

Following Friday's atrocity, the Conservatives pledged to crackdown on convicted terrorists being released early after it emerged Khan had been released halfway through his sentence.

Sharing an image of newspaper front pages about the plans, Mr Merritt wrote: "Don't use my son's death, and his and his colleague's photos - to promote your vile propaganda. Jack stood against everything you stand for - hatred, division, ignorance."

The grieving father also shared a post by journalist Ash Sarkar which said: "It's beyond disgusting that Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and newspapers like the Mail are using Jack Merritt's death and image to promote an agenda he fought against all his life. He was a passionate believer in rehabilitation and transformative justice, not draconian sentencing."

Mr Merritt previously said Jack "would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily".

(Image: BBC)

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In a reply to Brendan Cox, husband of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, Mr Merritt wrote: "I obviously don’t have full facts about the process that led to the attacker being released, but what I can say with certainty is that no one at the event had the slightest inkling that he could or would do something like this. We don’t need knee-jerk reactions."

He also retweeted a post by writer Liam Hogan, which said: "Hey @BorisJohnson , instead of making capital on "tougher sentences"/no early release, why don't you take a look at what Jack Merritt believed? Because he believed in prisoner rehabilitation, even if you don't. (Unless presumably it suits your electoral purposes...)"

(Image: Peter Summers)

Jack and Saskia died as a result of their injuries after Khan, 28, launched the frenzied attack in Fishmongers' Hall, where the conference was being held.

He was restrained by heroic members of the public before being shot dead by police on London Bridge.

Three other people were also injured in the attack.

Khan was jailed in 2012 after he and eight other members of an al-Qaeda-inspired cell were convicted of plotting terror atrocities - including bombing the London Stock Exchange.

Despite initially being given an indefinite jail sentence, this was reduced to 16 years the following year on appeal.

Khan was released in December last year, and convinced probation officials that he no longer held extreme views.

He claimed in a letter to his lawyer that he was "immature" and said he wanted to be a "good citizen".