Exclusive:
Five years have now passed since Saskia Jones and fellow Cambridge graduate Jack Merritt, 25, were stabbed to death by terrorist Usman Khan at a prisoner rehabilitation event
As Saskia Jones stirred rice in a pan, she chatted to her mum Michelle about visiting a Christmas market with pals.
The 23-year-old then said: “I want you to come with us because everybody knows you are my best friend because you are.”
This was their last proper conversation. Less than 24 hours later, on November 29, 2019, Saskia was stabbed to death by a terrorist at an event to rehabilitate prisoners at Fishmongers’ Hall in London Bridge.
Five years have now passed since Saskia and fellow Cambridge graduate Jack Merritt, 25, were killed in Usman Khan’s frenzied attack. And today, Michelle speaks about that horrific day for the first time.
She has replayed their last chat in her mind countless times and said: “It’s quite bizarre, almost as though she knew. Although that conversation brings me some comfort, I also wonder if it was a sign and somehow I should have known.
“Saskia and I were very close, we were more like sisters. Life without her feels empty. It has left a permanent hole in my heart that is impossible to fill. It’s ever-present from when I rise to when I sleep.”
Michelle is plagued by the thought Saskia, who wanted to be a police officer specialising in sexual violence, was in two minds about attending the event as she was also due in Cambridge that afternoon. She said: “If only she had decided against going.
“If I could turn back time, it would be my wish that those running the event had provided Saskia and others invited with a list of attendees. At least then she could have made an informed choice about the high risk involved in going.”
Khan, 28, wearing a fake suicide bomb vest, also injured three others before being chased on to London Bridge where brave passers-by attacked him with makeshift weapons, including a narwhal tusk. A short time later, City of London officers shot him dead.
When Michelle, of Stratford-upon-Avon, West Mids, heard about the attacks, she initially thought Saskia was too busy helping to reply to her messages. “But as it got later, panic set in,” she recalled.
The arrival of two police liaison officers confirmed Michelle’s worst fears. “I realised it was her because Saskia would have contacted me somehow to let me know she was OK. When they told me, I couldn’t move – I was standing and I found myself momentarily frozen.”
Saskia had died nine hours earlier and Michelle will never understand why she was not told sooner. “That’s one of the hardest things to deal with – all that time passed and I didn’t know my daughter had died. Everyone wore lanyards with their names on. Why did nobody contact me?”
A 2021 inquest found the atrocity had been preventable and the management of Khan – freed from jail 11 months early after serving eight years on terror charges – had been unacceptable. Michelle said learning Saskia would still be alive had people done their jobs properly was a huge blow.
“It was a very difficult day for us as a family – everybody had messed up, everybody had made mistakes and that was really difficult to absorb.” A Prevention of Future Deaths Report was also issued, recommending a separate structure be created to manage the risks and treatment of convicted terrorists.
And the then-Tory government promised to introduce a Survivors Charter to guarantee mental health and other support for victims of terrorism. But half a decade on, the charter has not materialised and Michelle – who now works with support organisation Survivors Against Terror – remains in the dark about any changes made.
She added: “There has been absolutely no communication or transparency – so how are we, and the public, supposed to know whether people will be safe if something similar happens in the future? Changes should have been made immediately to prevent other families having to experience what we have been through – because one day it could be their child.”
Michelle and her brothers Pete and Phil, who she credits for helping her, are determined to ensure Saskia’s legacy and “zest for life” live on. They was honoured to learn Saskia’s university research into rape and sexual assault had formed the basis of a PHD in her name at Anglia Ruskin University, where she completed her undergraduate degree.
And the government even included her findings in the 2021 Rape Review. Several awards and a counselling service for terror survivors have also been launched in her name.
Michelle said: “Saskia was remarkable. We always describe her as a life warrior as she confronted everything that came her way. She realised people have to look out for each other, and that was very much her attitude.
“If we can try and pursue some of the changes she wanted in the world, then I can’t think of a better legacy.”
To learn more about the charter and Survivors Against Terror, visit www.survivorsagainstterror.org.uk
