Streatham attack victim and teacher Monika Luftner stabbed by Sudesh Amman while cycling from cafe

Monika Luftner, 51, was the first victim knifed by Sudesh Amman
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This is the first picture of one of the Streatham terror attack victims.

Nursery school teacher Monika Luftner, 51, was knifed in the back by Sudesh Amman as she cycled home, it can be revealed today.

The mother-of-one is “extremely lucky” to be alive after she was attacked shortly after drinking coffee with her family and friends at a cafe in Streatham High Road on Sunday.

Seconds later Amman, 20, was shot dead by undercover police .

Amman Khan was shot by police ()
Met Police

Witnesses said the popular teacher, who had earlier dropped her 12-year-old daughter off with friends, screamed “he stabbed me”.

She was released from hospital five hours after the attack and is now recovering at her home near Streatham.

Her husband said today: “I can confirm that my wife is the woman who was stabbed.”

Ms Luftner works at St Bede’s Catholic Nursery and Primary School in Clapham Park.

A school spokesman said: “We can confirm a member of staff was injured in Sunday’s terror-related incident in Streatham. She is now making a good recovery after experiencing a shocking attack.”

One parent, whose child attends the school said: “She was very brave. She is a lovely teacher and is a credit to everyone at the school.”

Forensic officers at the scene following the terror attack in Streatham High Road
PA

Another parent added: “Mrs Luftner is great with all of the kids. It’s been a shock for everyone at the school after learning about what happened on Sunday.

"But everyone is glad to see she is okay and recovering at home.”

Scotland Yard said that three people were injured in the attack, including a man in his forties, who was in a serious but stable condition in hospital. Another woman, in her twenties, suffered minor injuries.

Streatham terror attack - In pictures

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It came as ministers were accused today of ignoring warnings from security chiefs nearly two years ago about the release of dangerous extremists.

Labour MP Kevan Jones said that Parliament’s intelligence and security committee was told by security services in 2018 that they were worried about the number of terrorists who were due for release.

Mr Jones, who was on the committee at the time, said ministers — who yesterday announced sweeping sentencing changes to keep terrorists in prison for longer — needed to explain why they had not acted sooner.

His rebuke came as Richard Walton, a former head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, also stepped up the pressure on the Government by disclosing that police had been calling for terrorists to be kept in prison for longer “for some time”.

Former head of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command Richard Walton
PA Archive/PA Images

He said the Government had been “too soft on all this” and that a new Australian-style system of indefinite detention was needed to ensure that the public were properly protected from “highly dangerous offenders” who would otherwise be released.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove responded by saying that ministers were ready to introduce indefinite detention “if necessary”, while Home Secretary Priti Patel conceded that ministers were rushing to close “loopholes” that had been allowing terrorists to be freed.

Their comments came as Mr Gove indicated that emergency legislation, announced yesterday by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, would be introduced in Parliament this week.

It will ensure that terrorist prisoners serve at least two thirds of their sentences and are only released then if the Parole Board decides they are safe.

They will still have to be freed, however, when their sentences expire.

Michael Gove arrives in Downing Street
Getty Images

The Government hopes to have the legislation passed within days to ensure that the new regime, which is expected to face legal challenges, is in place quickly before more terrorists are automatically released.

In a further blow, however, the Government’s terrorism watchdog, Jonathan Hall QC, told the Standard that the new system could backfire by leading to “cliff edge” releases under which terrorist offenders are released without any controls, if they are no longer freed on licence and let out instead at the end of their sentences.

But the main focus of controversy today, amid the inquiry into the attack by freed terrorist Amman, was the disclosure by Mr Jones that ministers had failed to act on warnings given in 2018.

Mr Jones, said the alert had come when the intelligence and security committee was investigating terror attacks the previous year at Westminster, the Manchester Arena, London Bridge, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green.

He told the Standard: “The Government has known for at least a year and a half that these individuals were due to be released and it was considered that they still posed a serious risk once released. The question ministers need to answer is what they did about it.”

Mr Jones revealed the earlier warnings yesterday during a Commons debate on the Streatham attack when he told MPs: “When, in the last Parliament, the intelligence and security committee took evidence on the Westminster Bridge attack, the security services raised with the committee concern about 38, I think, individuals who would be released in the next two years and considered as dangerous.”

He stressed that the counter-terrorism experts had “real, serious concerns about these people on quite short sentences”.

Asked today why ministers had failed to act sooner to stop dangerous terrorists being released, Ms Patel insisted that Boris Johnson’s Government was acting swiftly to close down “loopholes” responsible for the problem.

Priti Patel

She told ITV’s This Morning: “We simply cannot have individuals halfway through their sentence being released in a way in which they are not supervised and not assessed.

"The public will rightly ask why have we not had those checks and balances in place in the first instance.

"That is why we are doing this... there will be a pipeline of prisoners.”

Pressed on why it had taken so long, she added: “I’ve been Home Secretary for six months… these are the type of loopholes that we have had to shut down.”

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