The Met Police this morning thanked journalists for refraining from naming the perpetrator of Wednesday’s terror attack in London.
Met deputy acting commissioner Mark Rowley revealed this morning that many journalists identified the killer shortly after he drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and then murdered a policeman with a knife outside the Palace of Westminster. Five people, including the attacker himself, have died as a result of his actions.
Rowley said: “Yesterday we named the dead terrorist as Khalid Masood – we stated he had a number of aliases – we now know his birth name was Adrian Russell Ajao.
“I would like to put on record my gratitude to the journalists who having identified the dead terrorist soon after the attack have delayed publishing his details at my request to give us space to move on the necessary warrants, searches and arrests.”
Yestterday, Channel 4 News editor Ben De Pear issued an apology after Wednesday night’s programme wrongly named a man who is alive and in prison as the Westminster attacker.
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