AN INQUEST has begun examining the murder of James Furlong, David Wails, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett.
The terror attack in Forbury Gardens in June 2020 claimed the lives of the three men and left three more people injured.
A pre-inquest review took place in the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday, January 12, where the coroner heard details of the incident to determine how to proceed in the case of a full inquest.
Judge Coroner Martyn Zeidman KC agreed to give the issue consideration and a full inquest into the men’s deaths is now expected to take place by early 2024.
Representatives of the victims’ families also moved to invoke Article 2, which means that coroner must carry out an enhanced investigation considering the wider circumstances surrounding the incident, rather simply determining how a person died.
This is due to reports following the incident back in 2020 that the offender who carried out the incident, Khairi Saadallah, was known to both police and MI5 before it took place.
While Saadallah was subject to a preliminary investigation after security services received information about potential terrorist activities, they did not seek further action.
He had also previously been convicted of a number of offences between 2013 and 2019, and was known to associate with a prominent radical preacher linked with the proscribed terrorist group Al-Muhajiroun while imprisoned.
Before moving to the UK in 2012, there was evidence he had spent time as a solider with the rebel militia during the civil war in Libya in 2011.
Saadallah admitted to authorities that he had belonged to Ansar Al-Sharia, a group associated with Islamic extremism, and which was designated a terrorist organisation in the UK.
Article 2(2) refers to the European Convention of Human Rights, which states an obligation by government authorities to take steps to safeguard the life of individuals in the case of either suicide or risk to others.
As such, an Article 2 inquest will examine whether any institutional factors contributed to the death of the three victims.
Speaking at the pre-inquest review hearing, coroner said he wanted to “truly reflect right at the very beginning on the huge horror that has occurred.”
Mr Zeidman said he wanted to investigate “what state agencies knew” about the offender and the risk he posed to the public before the attack.
During the hearing, Peter Skelton KC, the families’ legal representative, told the court that there had been “clear systems involved that failed to protect the public.”
Following the hearing, Gary Furlong spoke on behalf of the families of the victims, saying: “It has been a long and very painful two and a half years.
“And we are relieved that at long last the inquest process into the deaths of James, David, and Joseph is under way.
“As family members, we all want to know how the awful deaths of our loved ones could have happened and we trust the coroner to carry out a full and fearless investigation of the circumstances and events that led up to that day.”
