EXCLUSIVE: Sudanese-born terror suspect 'was being investigated over irregularities in his British citizenship application' before 'trying to murder 15 cyclists by ploughing into them in Westminster'-dailymail uk

EXCLUSIVE: Salih Khater was being probed over 'irregularities' in his British citizenship application

He had failed accountancy and pharmacy courses in the past year and his brother and father also died 

29-year-old from Birmingham, veered off road into pedestrians and cyclists at Parliament Square yesterday   

Terror suspect drove from flat in Sparkhill, Birmingham, to London on before driving around for six hours

Cruised tourist hotspots around Tottenham Court Road before 1.25am and 5.55am before going to Whitehall 

Crash came 17 months after Khalid Masood killed 5 on Westminster Bridge before murdering PC Keith Palmer

 

 

The Sudanese-born immigrant accused of bringing terror to Westminster was being investigated over 'irregularities' in his British citizenship application before the attack, MailOnline understands.

Salih Khater, 29, was also thrown off his university accountancy course in May after failing his first year and lost his father and brother in the months before he used his Ford Fiesta to plough into crowds during yesterday's rush hour.

MailOnline understands that Khater had recently been told by the Home Office he was being probed over possible irregularities in his successful application to become a British citizen. 

There could be a number of reasons for this apparent dispute, one could be that immigration officials may have discovered discrepancies in his original application to live in the UK such as his age or documents provided as evidence. 

Khater grew up in the rural town of Wad Madani, around 150 miles south-east of Khartoum, Sudan, where his mother and father farmed millet, and came to the UK around five years ago, possibly as an asylum seeker.   

He settled in Birmingham where he was described as a quiet loner who loved Celine Dion, smoking shisha and whiling away time at an internet cafe below his old flat in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham.

Until May he was studying accountancy at Coventry University but had his place 'terminated' after failing the first year, while friends said his poor English meant he couldn't complete a pharmacy course 12 months earlier.

Police are today searching his tenth floor council flat just ten minutes from the former home of Khalid Masood, whose murderous rampage 17 months ago appears to have inspired Khater's own carborne attack yesterday. Searches of his old flat and a Nottingham house linked to his car have been completed.

 

Read more here CLICK