Priti Patel hailed ‘hero’ emergency services who tackled the Reading attacker today after she visited the scene.
The Home Secretary said those who stepped in to try to stop the bloodshed and treat the injured were ‘the very best of us’.
She also vowed ‘swift justice’ and insisted it was important to ‘learn the lessons’ of the atrocity in the Berkshire commuter town, warning that the ‘threat posed by lone actors is growing’.
Police including counter-terrorism detectives continue to question Libyan suspect Khairi Saadallah over the multiple killing.
Ms Patel went to the site this morning, before addressing the House of Commons this afternoon.
Praising the response of the emergency services, she said: ‘A young, unarmed police officer took down the suspect without hesitation while another performed emergency first aid to those who were injured.
‘These officers are heroes. They showed courage, bravery and selflessness way beyond their years. They are the very best of us.
‘I would also like to pay tribute to the response of every emergency service that attended the scene as well as members of the public who stepped in to prevent further loss of life.’
Ms Patel added that it is ‘clear that the threat posed by lone actors is growing’.
She said: ‘The United Kingdom has the best security service and police in the world. Since 2017 they have foiled 25 terrorist plots including eight driven by right-wing ideologies.
‘They serve the country with professionalism and courage, embodying what the British public rightfully expect from those on the front line of the battle against violent extremists and terrorists.
‘The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy remains one of the most comprehensive approaches to countering terrorism in the world.
‘But we have all too often seen the results of poisonous extremist ideology. The terrorist threat that we face is complex, diverse and rapidly changing.
‘It is clear that the threat posed by lone actors is growing.’
Home Secretary Priti Patel told the Commons this afternoon that she was determined to see ‘swift justice’
Police including counter-terrorism detectives continue to question Libyan suspect Khairi Saadallah (right) over the multiple killing. Those who died included history teacher James Furlong, 36 (left)
American Joe Ritchie-Bennett, who was from Philadelphia, was also killed, along with a third victim who is yet to be identified
The former head of UK counter-terrorism policing said that security services could not crack every ‘known suspect’.
Sir Mark Rowley, former assistant commissioner for specialist operations in the Metropolitan Police, said forces and security services face a ‘wicked problem’ deciding which of the 40,000 people known to them could launch a terror attack.
This afternoon, Mr Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters: ‘The Prime Minister has said that if there are any lessons to be learned, or if there are any changes that need to be made to stop such events from happening again, we will not hesitate to act to take that action as we have before.’
He added: ‘In February, following the Streatham attack, we brought forward legislation, the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Act, which ended the automatic release of terrorists offenders at the halfway point of their sentence, This applied to all serving prisoners.
‘So we have shown that where there are lessons to be learned we will act, but in terms of this case, I can’t discuss it any further given it is a life investigation.’
Two of the dead from Saturday have so far been identified: American Joe Ritchie-Bennett and British history teacher James Furlong, 36, who were friends, were at the same picnic when a man with a knife struck.
A third victim is yet to be identified, while two others who were injured remain in hospital and one has now been discharged.
Saadallah, who is thought to have only been released from prison for various offences 17 days ago, came to the attention of MI5 last year, after they suspected he was planning to travel to Syria for ‘extremist reasons’.
The 25-year-old, who lived a mile away from the scene and was said to enjoy smoking cannabis and drinking whisky, allegedly claimed to have fought both for and against Islamic State – although officials assessing him found he did not subscribe to any ideology or belief system and instead had mental health issues.
In the Commons, an MP told how one of his parliamentary assistants carried out CPR on a victim.
Tory Chris Loder (West Dorset) said one of his staff was on the scene and ‘ran courageously towards danger, his only focus to help the injured’.
Mr Loder the aide ‘not only used his own shirt to stem the bleeding of one victim, but continued resuscitation on a second victim until the paramedics arrived’.
He added: ‘This was indeed a remarkable and extraordinary effort from a young man who has been with us in Parliament for little over four months and whom I am extremely proud to have as part of the West Dorset Parliamentary team as I hope is the whole House.’
Responding, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘Can I join with (Mr Loder) a tribute to his assistant and to all other first responders who showed great humility but also that sense of duty in coming together on Saturday in Forbury Gardens to respond and prevent the further loss of life.
‘As I have already said Mr Speaker, they are the very best of all of us and I pay tribute to everyone that was part of the emergency response.’
At the site earlier, Ms Patel today told reporters: ‘I mean this is a tragic, tragic event, it really is. We’ve seen three people die, so there is extensive work that’s taking place, yes, with the police but obviously now with CT (counter-terrorism) police as well, and the intelligence community and all aspects of policing.
‘We’ve got a lot of information to gather, we have to look at all aspects as to what happened on Saturday, the individual that’s in custody as well, to ensure that, yes, justice is served.
‘But, also, we make sure that we learn the lessons from what has happened over the weekend to prevent anything like this from happening again.’
The Home Secretary said it was it was important to ‘learn the lessons’ of the bloody attack in the commuter town on Saturday evening as she met police officers in Forbury Gardens
Sir Mark Rowley, former assistant commissioner for specialist operations in the Metropolitan Police, said forces and security services face a ‘wicked problem’ deciding which of the 40,000 people known to them could launch a terror attack
In Reading today, a minute’s silence was held at 10am, while students of Mr Furlong, head of history at the Holt Community School in Wokingham, will flock to a church to remember him by lighting candles and laying flowers.
Mr Ritchie-Bennett had been working for a Dutch pharmaceutical firm in the Berkshire town for about a decade having previously been employed by a London law firm when he first moved to England.
Sir Mark had earlier told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ‘What you end up with operationally is about, I think, about 3,000 people under investigation at one stage.
‘But there is 40,000 people… whose names have touched the system.
‘And in that 40,000 are lots of volatile people who dip in and out of interests in extreme ideology, and to spot one of those who is going to go from a casual interest into a determined attacker, which can happen in a matter of days, is the most wicked problem that the services face.’
One onlooker, Lawrence Wort (in blue), said he saw the man stab three men ‘in the neck and under the arms’ before turning around and running towards him. He and his group fled and the attacker then tried to stab another group sitting down. Two of the three victims, Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and James Furlong, 36, are also pictured above (in green)
Asked about concerns among the public, Ms Priti Patel said she was ‘very restricted and constrained’ in what she was able to answer due to the ongoing investigation but said security services ‘work intensively’ to look at risks posed by individuals.
‘The security services have records on thousands of people, and rightly so, subjects of interest, people of concern,’ she told reporters.
‘There is very little I can say, but at the end of the day when it comes to MI5 and our intelligence and security services, they work intensively to look at the backgrounds of individuals to see what kind of risk they pose to society, to our communities.
‘And they act accordingly in terms of what kind of protective measures are put in place around those individuals, and what kind of protections are needed.’
On the current terror threat level, Ms Patel said that police had been ‘clear’ they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack, but added that the public should ‘always be vigilant’ and ‘always remain alert’.