Youseff Zaghba named as third London Bridge terrorist: Everything we know about him

Zaghba was shot dead by police along with fellow Moroccan terrorist, Rachid Redouane, 31 and Pakistan born extremist, Khuram Butt, 27, after they went on the rampage in London, killing seven and wounding almost 50.

His mother revealed how he had phoned her last Thursday in what she now realises was his farewell call.

She said: "Even though he didn't say anything specific I heard it in his voice. He was all worn out inside."

She said he had changed after moving to London where he had fallen under the malign influence of extremists.

"The area where he lived in London was not very nice. I was there and I didn't like it. He went around with the wrong people," she explained.

Zaghba is thought to have met his fellow terrorists in the Ilford area where he was living as he tried to find work in the capital's hospitality industry.

On a LinkedIn page he claimed to work in housekeeping for the London Marriott Hotel at Regent's Park, but a spokesman for the company insisted there was no record of him ever having been employed there.

His mother said rather than a hotel, he had worked at a Pakistani run restaurant in the city, where he had met some unsavoury characters.

In March last year, encouraged by his new radical associates, he decided to travel to Syria and join the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Perhaps realising the journey might be difficult if he set off from Britain, he headed for Italy first, spending time with his mother at her home in the picturesque village of Fagnano near Bologna.

Neighbours in the village, which is surrounded by woodland, said he was polite and never showed signs of his extremism.

Franco Bortolini, 77, a neighbour who lives in the second floor apartment above his mother's flat, said: "I would never have imagined something like this happening. He was normal. He would say ‘buongiorno’ and ‘buonasera’.

After a few days, he told his mother he was off to Rome, but instead made his way to Bologna airport, where carrying just a rucksack and a one-way ticket, he attempted to board a flight to Istanbul.

He was stopped however by Italian security officials, who noted that he was acting in an "agitated" manner.

When he was questioned about the purpose of his journey, he told them: "I'm going to be a terrorist."

Police contacted his mother who said she had been worried about him because he had been talking about Jihad.

Italian police seized his mobile phone and found a large amount of religious content, but nothing that constituted a criminal offence.

He was not arrested but his details were passed to security officials in the UK and he was added to a European wide list of "foreign fighters".

Zaghba was discovered with jihadi material when he was stopped during a routine search, according to an Italian diplomatic source.

The attacker, who had been living in Casablanca until March last year, was highlighted on a European database as being at risk of being radicalised, the source told the Guardian. 

Despite this he was able to return to Britain, heading back to Ilford, where he hooked up with Redouane and Butt began plotting to bring Jihad to London.

His mother, who is a Muslim convert, has expressed her deep condolences to the victims of the London Bridge terror attack.

In an interview with an Italian newspaper, she said: “Only a mother can understand the pain of another mother.

"I know that nothing will be enough but I'm ready to do everything I can to bring them peace. We need to fight the ideology of IS and I will do that with all my strength.”

Daniele Ruscigno, the local mayor, said: “We are totally shocked by what happened. Nowhere is immune from the phenomenon of terrorism.

“Muslim people in this area are generally well integrated. If the family had been more integrated, perhaps this would not have happened.”