​​​​​​​Streatham attacker Sudesh Amman was fascinated with dying "in the name of terrorism" and one of his life goals was to be a martyr, it has emerged.

The 20-year-old was jailed in December 2018 for spreading extremist material and had recently been released from prison when he carried out his knife attack on Sunday.

Here Sky News looks at what we know about Amman, from his childhood and criminal past to his stabbing rampage and death.

Childhood

Amman grew up in Harrow, northwest London, where he lived with his mother and five brothers.


He was a pupil at Park High School between 2011 and 2016, with a former school friend saying he had shown "no signs of extremism" at the time.

The "nice, polite boy" went on to study maths and science at the College of North West London and wanted to go on to study biomedical science, according to his mother Haleema Faraz Khan.

Image: Sudesh Amman pictured as a child

But Amman was "easily led" and became angrier as he got older, "playing out 'Islamic terror' from his room", neighbour Anthony Stevens said.

"There was always noise and always fighting in the house," Mr Stevens added.

"He grew weed from his loft too.

"There was always trouble in the house... the house was trashed."

A teenager, who did not want to give her name, said she had known Amman since childhood and claimed he would say, "I am going to be a terrorist", but people thought he was joking.

Image: Amman was 'easily led', according his neighbour

Terror convictions

Amman was aged just 17 when he began collecting terrorist material in 2017.

That same year he also racked up convictions for possession of an offensive weapon and cannabis.

Police told how he shared graphic terrorist videos online and stockpiled instructions on bomb making and knife attacks.

Amman posted al Qaida propaganda on a family WhatsApp group, exposing siblings as young as 11 to graphic material, and had shared bomb-making literature via Skype chat.

He had told his girlfriend of his wish to carry out acid attacks and that he preferred the idea of a knife attack over using bombs.

Image: Amman began collecting terrorist material in 2017

Reports at the time also said he had told his girlfriend she should murder her "kuffar" parents.

A notepad was found in his home, where he had listed his "life goals". Top of the list was "dying a martyr and going to 'Jannah' - the afterlife", police revealed.

Alexis Boon, then head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, described Amman as having a "fierce interest in violence and martyrdom" and said he was fascinated with dying "in the name of terrorism".

He was arrested in May 2018 after police were contacted by a Dutch blogger who identified extremist material in a Telegram chat by an account holder known as @strangertothisworld, which turned out to be Amman.

Police found almost 10 terabytes of data on Amman's laptop, mobile phone and other digital devices.

An air gun, a black flag and a combat knife were also seized from his home when he was arrested.

Image: An airgun was recovered from Amman's home after he was arrested in 2018

Amman's stash of manuals on bomb-making, knife-fighting and close combat included the titles Bloody Brazilian Knife Fighting and How To Make A Bomb In Your Kitchen.

In November 2018, Amman admitted six charges of possession and seven of disseminating terrorism documents - and was given credit by the judge for his early guilty pleas.

But he denied three further counts which were ordered to lie on court file.

Image: A combat knife was also recovered

Then aged 18, Amman smiled and waved at the public gallery as he was jailed for three years and four months on 17 December 2018.

At the time, prosecutor Kelly Brocklehurst told the court Amman's interest in Islamic extremism and Islamic State in particular was "more than a mere immature fascination with the taboo and with graphic violence".

However Hossein Zahir QC, defending, described Amman as not someone with settled and firmly held views but "a young man casting around" who has concerns about violence towards Muslims.

Sentencing Amman, Judge Mark Lucraft QC said Amman had a "very concerning series of offences", describing some as "particularly troubling".

How the Streatham terror attack unfolded

'Radicalised online and in prison'

Ms Khan said she believed her son had become radicalised after watching Islamist material online and while in the high security jail Belmarsh.

She told Sky News: "He became more religious inside prison, that's where I think he became radicalised

"He was watching and listening to things online which brainwashed him.

"Before he went to prison he was not that religious. After he came out he was really religious."

Release from prison

Amman had been released from prison in January after serving less than half of his sentence.

He had been staying at a bail hostel close to where he carried out of his attack in Streatham.

The site manager of the hostel in Leigham Court Road said he had last seen the convicted terrorist on Friday, adding: "He didn't speak much."

Image: The bail hostel was cordoned off on Monday

Sam Armstrong, from the Henry Jackson Society - a foreign policy think tank - said it warned in December that Amman was due for release within the next two months and should not be let out of prison.

The Ministry of Justice has refused to reveal the date Amman was released but confirmed it was "in the past six weeks".

Ms Khan said her son seemed "normal" when she visited him at the bail hostel on Thursday and he called her before Sunday's attack asking her to make him some mutton biryani.

Amman was under police surveillance at the time of his attack.

Moment armed police reached attacker

Streatham attack

Amman's attack took place on Streatham's busy High Road - around seven miles from central London - at about 2pm on Sunday.

According to various witness testimonies, Amman - wearing a hoax suicide vest - entered the Low Price Store and took a 10-inch knife from the shelves.

Despite the shopkeeper's attempts to stop him the convicted terrorist fled from the store, removed the packaging from the blade and stabbed a woman in her 50s in the back.

Seconds later, Amman stabbed a man outside the White Lion pub just a few buildings further up the road, as armed police officers gave chase.

Up to three armed officers, dressed in civilian clothing, shouted after Amman as he ran up the road in the direction of Streatham Hill railway station before he was shot dead by police.