Texas gunman said 'I want to kill Jews' last year

Challenging the widespread claim that Akram suffered mental health problems, the attacker’s former GP told the JC that he was “a confident man who didn’t need any mental help”, and had no mental health complaints on his medical notes.

Akram’s outburst about killing Jews came at a meeting called in May last year to discuss escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. He had at that time already joined a number of pro-Palestinian protests.

Akran also told those present at the meeting, which took place near his local mosque, Masjid Irfan, that Jews needed to be punished and should be “bombed”.

At least four local councillors discussed Akram’s comments and one who had attended the meeting reported his comments to the police. To his astonishment, however, he heard nothing more about it.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the councillor told the JC: “The only shock was that he went so far, to the US, to execute his views. My worry was that he would do something stupid in this country and will bring a bad name to the whole community.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police, which is handling media enquiries about Akram, declined to comment on the claim “for operational reasons”.

In Blackburn, former friends and associates described Akram as a bully with a decades-long history of crime, who had served time in prison.

Beset by financial problems and the loss of his home when it was repossessed by a bank, Akram immersed himself in the teachings of the conservative Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat at his mosque.

Days before he launched his attack on the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville on Saturday evening, Akram stayed at a hostel run by OurCalling, a nonprofit Christian organisation which cares for the homeless.

Speaking to the JC, CEO and pastor of OurCalling, Wayne Walker, said Akram, who checked in on 2 January, did not arrive alone.

He said: “He had someone who dropped him off. He had conversations with him in our parking lot, and walked with him into our facility. And then as they departed, they both hugged each other, embraced, patting each other on the back.

“And then the friend departed. We can see in our video footage that it wasn’t an in-passing conversation.”

Mr Walker said that OurCalling had “detailed video footage”, adding that he had turned it over to the FBI to help with the investigation.

Anti-extremism expert Professor Anthony Glees said the apparent failure to act on warnings over Akram’s radicalisation and antisemitism was “deeply troubling”.

The director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham said the slip-up will leave the FBI “absolutely furious”.

He said: “This will cause MI5 a lot of trouble, because it is very clear Akram was, quite rightly, on their radar because he had a track record of extreme antisemitic views.

“He was a security risk to the UK and indeed any other country he visited, especially the US.”

And Lord Carlile, who led government reviews of UK terror laws, called for an inquiry into the matter.

He said: “Given that a councillor reported what he heard to the police, that inquiry should ask what happened to that report.”