Inside the killer’s lair: Budget hotel room where Khalid Masood plotted
LONDON terrorist Khalid Masood wasn’t born under that name and he wasn’t always a Muslim. How was he turned?
THIS is the budget hotel room where jihadi Khalid Masood spent his final night before launching his Westminster killing spree.
Masood, 52, put the finishing touches to his deadly plot in room 228 at the $96-a-night Preston Park Hotel in Brighton, The Sun has revealed.
He shovelled down his last meal of a takeaway kebab on Tuesday night before checking out of his room on Wednesday morning.
He then drove to London where he ploughed into pedestrians, killing two, and stabbed hero cop PC Keith Palmer to death. A fourth person, a 75-year-old man, has died after his life support was switched off following the car and knife attack.
Details of Masood’s final night come amid revelations that the killer hadn’t always answered the name police identified him under.
He was born Adrian Elms in Dartford, Kent, and had most recently lived in the West Midlands.
Though he had become an Islamic extremist and was investigated by authorities as a “peripheral” figure, Masood hadn’t always identified as Muslim.
It is understood he converted to Islam while in jail for a violent crime, and may have become indocrinated by fellow inmates.
Former neighbours of attacker have told The Independent he was a “nice guy” and had a “normal family”, and were shocked to learn he had been responsible for the attack.
The Sun watched as anti-terror detectives swooped on the room Masood spent his final night in on Wednesday night after finding his hotel bill in the hired Hyundai he used as his battering ram.
Forensic officers swept the first-floor room for Masood’s fingerprints and DNA, stripping his sheets and taking the kettle.
They even prised the wall-mounted trouser press and toilet roll holder from the walls, as well as removing the telephone.
Yesterday, police IT experts were trying to discover which websites Masood had visited during his stay or if he contacted accomplices through the hotel’s Wi-Fi.
Detectives also seized the hotel’s CCTV as it emerged Masood used his real name, identification and credit card to check in.
A source said he had coolly chatted to staff and guests hours before setting off, telling them he was “off to London today”.
It is thought Masood had spent a number of days over the last week at the hotel.
A source told The Sun: “No one knows why he came. He used a credit card with the name Masood to check in on Tuesday at 11.30am.
“Police traced him to the hotel because he got a receipt and left it in the car. It was definitely the car he used in the attack because that was parked in the car park when he stayed here. It was a hire car,” the source said.
“He was very English but mixed race with a big beard. He said he lived above a guitar shop in Birmingham but he’s not originally from the Midlands and had a London accent.”
That was followed by a particularly eerie comment, considering Masood’s looming plan.
“He said London wasn’t like what it used to be,” the source said. “Police told us later it was definitely the Westminster attacker.”
The Sun can reveal Masood stayed at Preston Park — ranked 41 out of 44 Brighton hotels by one website — on Friday night, checking out the next morning, and Tuesday night after asking for a cheap room.
A source said: “On both occasions he was asking for a cheaper rate. You would have thought if you were hellbent on committing a terror attack you’d chuck it all on credit card and forget the cost.”
Staff liked him so much they even wrote “nice man” on his computer booking.
Police are trying to trace his whereabouts over the weekend but he apparently said he had stayed in “London and Gatwick”.
The source added: “He said he’d been in London the night before and possibly Gatwick then Brighton on the Tuesday night and going off back to London.”
Witnesses said he appeared “nice, polite and calm” and gushed about his Muslim wife.
He told staff he was worried about his parents who lived in Wales. He told them he was sad his dad was suffering from cancer and his mum was struggling to cope at the family home in Wales.
He also bragged they had bought the house for $16,000 that was now worth $820,000.
After checking out on Wednesday, a cleaner found him back in his room dressed in his underwear.
A source said: “He’d taken two bags to his car and checked out.
“But when the cleaner came back he was apparently back in his room wearing just his underwear. They were all shocked because they thought he had left.
“Everyone says he was nice and polite and acted totally normal.”
Cops began searching the room on Wednesday evening and left clutching bags containing bedsheets and several boxes of evidence.
They closed the hotel’s 24-hour bar and restaurant to launch the investigation and took photos of the foyer and reception.
They searched the grounds and bins and left the hotel at 3.30am.
Detectives returned yesterday at 10.15am to take statements from staff with a Russian interpreter to question a maid who dealt with the killer but does not speak English.
Cleaners yesterday left the door open to room 228, revealing a simple double bed, desk with Goodman’s TV, wardrobe and mirror and en suite toilet with shower.
The Sun’s photos show the kettle, telephone, toilet roll holder and trouser press had been removed.
The scruffy room faces the busy road and hotel car park.
A sign outside advertises rooms for as little as $65 a night.
Preston Park Hotel is 80 kilometres from Westminster and it is unclear what he was doing there, but sources say he left the hotel on Tuesday evening for several hours.
Only a handful of guests were booked at the hotel this week, which has poor reviews and a rating of just 2.5 out of five on TripAdvisor. One guest wrote on the website: “Stayed for one night only very tired looking hotel in need of refurbishment.”
Another unhappy guest gave it one star out of five and said: “On my second night my vehicle was robbed on site of about £450 worth of my possessions.
“Hotel not sympathetic, reluctant initially to call police. Turns out there was no CCTV.”
Another added: “Television didn’t work, hair dryer didn’t work and kettle didn’t work along with the socket which was not good.”
One said: “This hotel is a joke. Fittings falling off walls, taps and showers not working. Wall part and tiles ripped or missing.”
One wrote: “Shower grubby, dusty floor, dribble of water, poor excuse for a shower.”
And one said: “I stay in hotels most weeks and this has to be one of the worst I have stayed in.”
It has a night porter and free parking and Wi-Fi but only has a 2.5 rating on TripAdvisor.
This story was originally published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
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