Usman Khan: Boris Johnson under pressure to explain why convicted terrorist was released early to commit London bridge attack

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Chris Phillips, a former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, warned the criminal justice system was “playing Russian roulette” with the lives of the public. “What we have got to ask now is why is the criminal justice system allowing people like him to be back on the streets?” Mr Phillips said on Sky News. “He was still a radicalised Jihadi – he was put back out on the streets in order to kill.” Paul Gibson, a former head of counter-terrorism at the Ministry of Defence, echoed the criticism, saying of the release: “A lot of people will find that extraordinary.” Calling for terrorists to be “treated separately from ordinary criminals going through the criminal justice system”, he suggested a review of the rules was inevitable. Mr Khan also dismissed Conservative claims of higher counter-terror spending, saying: “You can't disaggregate terrorism and security from cuts made to resources of the police, of probation, the tools that judges have.” The prime minister has agreed the release of Khan was “a mistake” and said he had “long argued” that criminals should not be released early.