Learning Together programme disbanded following attack

The educational Learning Together project for prisoners and University of Cambridge students is to be disbanded following the 2019 terrorist attack at Fishmongers’ Hall in which two volunteers were killed.

The programme was heavily criticised for allowing Usman Khan, who was on probation, to attend without a police escort. 23-year-old volunteer Saskia Jones was not told about Khan’s background before she sat down at his table at the event and started chatting with him. Jones was stabbed by Khan, with 25-year-old Jack Merritt also killed.

The Learning Together programme taught university students and student prisoners side-by-side. It was recommended by an independent review last year that the programme be halted.

An inquest jury found last May that there had been unacceptable management and a lack of accountability in the oversight of Khan, who had been allowed to travel on his own to London from his hometown of Stafford. This included failures in the sharing of information between state agencies responsible for monitoring him.

Learning Together and the Fishmongers' Company were also criticised over failures to keep those at the event safe. Now, in a statement on its website, the University of Cambridge said it had ‘undertaken a detailed analysis and thorough review of the many issues raised by the tragedy and the findings from the Coroner’.