Paris attacker showed signs of 'radicalisation'

Anti-terrorist prosecutors have revealed that Mickaël Harpon, the man who stabbed four people to death at police headquarters in Paris on 3 October, adhered to a radical version of Islam.

Having previously said that motives for the attack were unknown, with police dealing with the incident as a criminal matter, prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard has said that Harpon had contact with members of the Salafist movement, having previously defended the deadly 2015 attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo and exchanged text messages of a religious nature with his wife before the attack.

Ricard also confirmed that Harpon had converted to Islam, and much of the exchanges in question were relating to the ultra-conservative Islamic ideology.

Harpon was a 45-year-old IT expert, who worked at the police headquarters. He was shot dead by a junior police officer after he attacked colleagues in several offices at the central police building.

Following Ricard’s announcement, the French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, promised a security review of staff working in counter terrorism intelligence units. Politicians have been criticised for serious failings.