with pool cues."

The assaults didn't lead to prosecutions - and detectives believed that the suspect had intimidated the victims.

"One time I noticed a Koran and I made a joke like: 'Are you reading that?' He did not seem the religious type at all," said the friend.

"I spoke to my friend who lived with him for a while and he said he used to read the Koran all the time.

"The next time I saw him it was summer 2002 - he was on steroids, though he wasn't huge.

"He took quite a lot of cocaine and he seemed to like women with pink hair. He had one girlfriend and she had silicone breasts."

When Elms and the acquaintance mistakenly thought they were dating the same woman - Elms suggested that ifthey weren't friends, he would stab him in the face.

Image copyrightAPImage caption
Khalid Masood was shot at the scene of the Westminster attack

Attempted murder

Sussex Police received reports of at least two other acts of violence in 2002 and 2003.

Detective Constable Stuart Black from Sussex Police came across Khalid Masood in the critical period.

"He was trying to increase his reputation and status," DC Brown told the Westminster Bridge inquests.

"Eastbourne is only a small town, and he was just trying to big it up in a small town."

In 2003 the future killer attacked a man called Daniel Smith.

"The injuries were probably the worst knife injuries I've actually seen," said the detective.

After some kind of row over whether or not he was an undercover police officer, Masood began the attack to prove