A man seen attempting to subdue the London Bridge attacker with a fire extinguisher was a convicted killer who was mentored by one of the victims, it is reported.
The Sun said John Crilly was the man seen in a video clip spraying Usman Khan after the terrorist had stabbed and killed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones last Friday.
The Cambridge University graduates were attacked during a prisoner rehabilitation event at Fishmongers' Hall last Friday, where Mr Crilly was also present.
Khan attacked five people including the graduates, armed with two kitchen knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, before he was tackled by Mr Crilly and several others on London Bridge. He was then shot dead by police at point-blank range.
Mr Crilly served 13 years in prison after being convicted of murdering 71-year-old Augustine Maduemezia, but his conviction was quashed after a Supreme Court ruling on joint enterprise law and he was released in 2018.
The court ruled the law on joint enterprise – where defendants were prosecuted for murder even if they did not strike the fatal blow – had been misinterpreted.
Mr Crilly met Mr Merritt while in prison, where the Cambridge graduate was a course coordinator for the Learning Together programme, the Sun said.
The 48-year-old studied for an Open University law degree while in prison and Mr Merritt attended his graduation this year.
Following the incident, Mr Crilly spoke highly of his friend, saying Mr Merritt attended his graduation and was the "best guy I ever met".
He said on Facebook: "Jack actually tried helping this guy! To educate him. As he educated me.
"Jack came all the way from Cambridge to be at my graduation...
"How proud am I to be called Jack Merritt's friend."
Speaking when he was released in 2018, Mr Crilly told the BBC: “I had a bad life, I’ve changed it, I wasn’t guilty of murder.
“I totally accept what I did and it was wrong… I would have done the time, I would have done every day of that.”
Convicted terrorist Khan, 28, who was living in Stafford, was later identified as their killer.
Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, worked on the programme associated with Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology which is aimed at bringing offenders and people in higher education to “study alongside each other”.
A statement from his family said: “Jack Merritt, our beautiful, talented boy, died doing what he loved, surrounded by people he loved and who loved him. He lit up our lives and the lives of his many friends and colleagues, and we will miss him terribly.
“Jack lived his principles; he believed in redemption and rehabilitation, not revenge, and he always took the side of the underdog.
“Jack was an intelligent, thoughtful and empathetic person who was looking forward to building a future with his girlfriend, Leanne, and making a career helping people in the criminal justice system.”
Ms Jones, a volunteer on the programme from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was described as having “great passion” for providing support to victims of crime by her family.
In a statement they said: “She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.”
