London Evening Standard

London

MI5 cancelled intensive surveillance of one of the killers of soldier Lee Rigby just a month before the attack, a shocking official report revealed yesterday.

And plans to monitor the other murderer were delayed for a week by security service paperwork until the day before the atrocity - finally being signed off by the Home Secretary hours after it had taken place.

They were among a string of missed chances that could have helped prevent the horrific murder.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, drove a car into Fusilier Rigby near his barracks in Woolwich on May 22 last year. They hacked him with knives and tried to behead him with a meat cleaver. Both are serving life terms.

Yesterday’s report, by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, said MI5 probably could not have stopped the tragedy because the pair had taken precautions against surveillance. But it highlighted “errors” by MI5 and MI6 that might have saved the soldier’s life.

It also strongly attacked Internet companies, including major social media sites, for failing to report extremist activities online. Among key findings: MI5 spotted Adebolajo in 2008 via contacts with suspected extremists. They “threw the kitchen sink” at investigating him, and found evidence of drug dealing, but nothing to suggest he was about to commit an attack. Intrusive surveillance on him was stopped in April 2013.

The Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, was “deeply unsatisfactory” in showing a lack of interest in Adebolajo, even after he was arrested by anti-terror police in Kenya in 2010.

Internet companies are criticised for providing a “safe haven for terrorists”.

Adebowale had an Internet account that GCHQ described as saying: “Let’s kill a soldier.”

But it was not seen until weeks after the atrocity.

The US Internet firm he used — a household name — closed down several other pages of extremist material set up by Adebowale, yet did not report any to the authorities.

Adebowale had “graphic” conversations online with a suspected militant linked to Al Qaeda, codenamed Foxtrot, who encouraged him to be a martyr. But these exchanges were not spotted by MI5 or reported by the company.

There was no evidence that MI5 and the police had improved on a flawed system of monitoring large groups of individuals who could pose a risk to national security. The committee said MI5 has no strategy to deal with subjects of interest who occur on the periphery of several investigations.

In the House of Commons, David Cameron spoke of “potential missed opportunities”, but praised the security and intelligence services as “silent heroes” in the war on terror. He announced £130mn extra funding for counter-terrorism operations, particularly against the growing threat of “lone wolf” terrorists. “Let me be clear that this is a very serious report. I don’t want anyone to be in any doubt there are lessons to be learned and things that need to change,” he said.

Committee chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the agencies could not have stopped the murder on the basis of the intelligence they had seen.

However, the security service missed a chance to monitor Adebowale on the day of the attack. A formal application for permission to use “intrusive” spying techniques on him took twice as long as normal, and was finally sent to the Home Office just one day before the murder.

The report disclosed: “If the application had not taken nearly twice as long as it should have — coincidentally, being sent to the Home Office only the day before the murder itself — MI5 would probably have had intrusive coverage of Adebowale in place during the days before, and on the day of, the attack.” The committee said the killers had such “security awareness” that surveillance may not have stopped them.

But Adebowale had boasted of his intentions on the Internet. He contacted Foxtrot and discussed his “intent to murder a soldier in the most graphic and emotive manner”.

The report stated: “Adebowale’s expressed intention to murder a soldier was highly significant. If Adebowale’s exchange with Foxtrot had been seen by MI5 at the time, then we believe that the investigation would have increased to Priority 1, unlocking all the extra resources this would have entailed.

“This is the single issue which — had it been known at the time — might have enabled MI5 to prevent the attack.”