Man detained after claiming on television that Michael Adebolajo was tortured in Kenya and harassed by MI5 agents

A friend of one of the suspected killers of a soldier butchered in a London street was arrested by counter-terrorism officers yesterday after going on television to allege that Michael Adebolajo was tortured in Kenya and harassed by MI5 – who asked him to spy for them.

The allegations came from Abu Nusaybah, who was arrested under terrorism legislation minutes after finishing recording his interview for BBC Newsnight.

The Guardian understands that Nusaybah is connected to extremists formerly in the banned group al-Muhajiroun. Counter-terrorism officers turned up at reception at the BBC's central London headquarters as his interview was being recorded an hour before it was broadcast. The officers waited, then arrested Nusaybah as he left the BBC's headquarters.

In the interview, Abu Nusaybah in part attributed Adebolajo's radicalisation to his alleged ill-treatment in Kenya.

Nusaybah alleged that Adebolajo was arrested while studying in a village in Kenya last year. After refusing to answer questions, Adebolajo was told that he was "not in the UK" and was then, he claimed, sexually assaulted. On his return, "he became more reclined [sic], less talkative. He wasn't his bubbly self," said Nusaybah, who said that the experience further radicalised Adebolajo.

The Guardian has learned that, last year, Adebolajo went to a lawyer to complain of harassment by MI5, who are drawing criticism today for knowing about the 28-year-old but not assessing him to be a bigger terrorist threat.

He was arrested at the scene of the soldier's murder in Woolwich on Wednesday in the first terror-related death on mainland Britain since the 7 July 2005 bombings.

The Guardian also understands from Whitehall sources that they were aware that Adebolajo was detained in Kenya before being deported.

Nusaybah said he had known Adebolajo since they grew up together in Romford, Essex.

Since the attack on the soldier, Lee Rigby, on Wednesday, a total of six people have been arrested. Nusaybah's was the first under counter-terrorism laws; the rest have been detained under regular criminal laws. Nusaybah was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Asked about the unusual sequence of events leading to the arrest, the Metropolitan police said: "He was not arrested because of his comments on Newsnight."

The police would not say what led to his arrest, which BBC insiders said had left them shocked. Police also said he was not arrested in connection to the murder of Lee Rigby. Nusaybah's home is understood to be one of two addresses in east London being searched by officers after his arrest.

In the interview, Abu Nusaybah described how the two men became friends after meeting in Romford in 2002, before both had converted to Islam. "I used to go there to chill out with friends," he said. "One day we bumped into each other. You didn't see a lot of black guys down there, so we talked and swapped numbers." The two men converted to Islam independently in 2004. "I came into Islam in 2004 and he came in four months later," Nusaybah said.

He also confirmed that Adebolajo frequented meetings of the now-banned al-Muhajiroun group, where he listened to the preachings of extremist clerics. "He attended some of their activities, but he was an independent guy. He would float about," Nusaybah said.

Adebolajo did not want to see sharia law imposed in Britain, but thought it more sensible for someone like him to go and live in a Muslim country, according to the interviewee. "He wanted to be qualified to teach and to do fitness training. He could use that to go abroad and live in a Muslim country."

Abu Nusaybah said that he believed that Adebolajo became radicalised about six months ago. He said he saw profound changes in Adebolajo's character at that time, which he attributed to his experiences in Kenya and to events on his return to Britain. "I believe that certain events that happened to him recently had an impact in shaping the changes. He became more reclined [sic], less talkative. He wasn't his bubbly self," he said.

Adebolajo had told Nusaybah how he had gone to study in a village in Kenya when he and others were rounded up by the Kenyan army. When he was interrogated, he refused to speak. "They told him, 'You are not in the UK now.' They took his private parts and said, 'We will F you.' He told me he was physically assaulted and sexually threatened. If you looked at his face, he was holding back tears," Nusaybah said.

When Adebolajo returned to England, he was interviewed by MI5 officers and, according to Nusaybah, was planning to leave again to live in a Muslim country. "His whole concept was he wanted to live in a Muslim land because at the time he was being harassed by MI5.

"They were knocking and knocking on his door. He pretended not to be there, but then he spoke to the agent. They said, 'We just want to speak to you.' They wanted to ask him if he knew certain people," he said.

"But after him saying that he didn't know these individuals, he said they asked him if he would be interested in working for them. He was explicit in that he refused to work for them but he did confirm he didn't know the individuals."

"His word was, 'They are bugging me,'" said Nusaybah.

In a statement about the arrest, Scotland Yard said: "At around 2130 hours on Friday 24 May, a 31-year-old man was arrested in London by officers from the MPS Counter-Terrorism Command on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. The man has been taken to a south London police station, where he remains in custody. Search warrants are being executed at two residential addresses in east London."

1. Woolwich suspect’s friend arrested after appearing on Newsnight
2. Woolwich suspects were known to MI5
3. Woolwich suspect’s friend describes shock at Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder – video

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has not been charged after two days of questioning by French judges over alleged complicity in the embezzlement of state funds.

But she has not been completely cleared in the investigation over her authorisation of a controversial out-of-court settlement for the maverick French businessman Bernard Tapie when she was finance minister under Nicolas Sarkozy.

Instead, Lagarde has been placed under the status of "supervised witness". In French legal terms, this is less serious than being placed under formal investigation. It means that in any future hearings she will have to answer questions as a witness with her lawyer. She could technically still be charged later if judges change their minds.

Emerging from two 12-hour days of questioning in Paris, Lagarde said it was "no surprise" to her that she had not been charged "because I always acted in the interest of the state and according to the law". She said she would be returning to Washington to resume her IMF duties.

The case dates back to 2008, when Lagarde, as Sarkozy's finance minister, ordered private arbitration in a long-running business dispute between Tapie and the French state. Tapie is a former Socialist minister and flamboyant business tycoon turned chatshow host who, as head of Olympique de Marseille football team, had served a prison sentence for match fixing. In 2007, he switched political camps and supported Sarkozy. For about 20 years, he had been pursuing legal action through the courts for compensation from the state, accusing the former state bank Crédit Lyonnais of ripping him off in a business deal to sell the sports brand Adidas, which he owned.

Once Sarkozy was in office, Lagarde moved to stop the court action and instead authorised three judges to decide an out-of-court settlement that meant Tapie was awarded a massive €400m in compensation at the expense of the French taxpayer – over €280m of which he pocketed, after tax and costs. The deal sparked outrage, with opposition politicians claiming that Lagarde had deliberately authorised an advantageous settlement procedure to reward Tapie for his support for Sarkozy during the 2007 election campaign.

Lagarde denies any wrongdoing and has said the arbitration was the "best solution", necessary to put an end to a costly legal dispute. She has always denied having acted under orders from Sarkozy.

Lagarde was appointed head of the IMF in 2011 after the former director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, quit in disgrace.

If Lagarde had been placed under formal investigation in the Tapie case, it would have risked weakening her position and further embarrassing both the IMF and France by heaping more judicial worries on a key figure on the international stage.

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Man detained after claiming on television that Michael Adebolajo was tortured in Kenya and harassed by MI5 agents

A friend of Michael Adebolajo, one of the men suspected of killing Drummer Lee Rigby in a London street on Wednesday, has been arrested by police after going on television to allege that Adebolajo was tortured in Kenya and harassed by MI5 agents.

Abu Nusaybah told BBC's Newsnight that Adebolajo was arrested by Kenyan authorities while studying in a village in the country last year. After refusing to answer questions, Adebolajo was told that he was "not in the UK" and was then, he claimed, sexually assaulted. On his return, "he became more reclined [sic], less talkative. He wasn't his bubbly self," said Nusaybah, who added that the experience further radicalised Adebalajo.

Interviewed on BBC2's Newsnight programme, Abu Nusaybah described how the two men became friends after meeting in Romford in 2002, before both had converted to Islam. "I used to go there to chill out with friends," he said. "One day we bumped into each other. You didn't see a lot of black guys down there, so we talked and swapped numbers." The two men converted to Islam independently in 2004. "I came into Islam in 2004 and he came in four months later," Nusaybah said.

He also confirmed that Adebolajo frequented meetings of the now-banned al-Muhajiroun group, where he listened to the preachings of extremist clerics. "He attended some of their activities, but he was an independent guy. He would float about," Nusaybah said.

Adebolajo did not want to see sharia law imposed in Britain, but thought it more sensible for someone like him to go and live in a Muslim country, according to the interviewee. "He wanted to be qualified to teach and to do fitness training. He could use that to go abroad and live in a Muslim country."

Abu Nusaybah said that he believed that Adebolajo became radicalised about six months ago. He said he saw profound changes in Adebolajo's character at that time, which he attributed to his experiences in Kenya and to events on his return to Britain. "I believe that certain events that happened to him recently had an impact in shaping the changes. He became more reclined [sic], less talkative. He wasn't his bubbly self," he said.

Adebolajo had told Nusaybah how he had gone to study in a village in Kenya when he and others were rounded up by the Kenyan army. When he was interrogated, he refused to speak. "They told him, 'You are not in the UK now.' They took his private parts and said, 'We will F you.' He told me he was physically assaulted and sexually threatened. If you looked at his face, he was holding back tears," Nusaybah said.

When Adebolajo returned to England, he was interviewed by MI5 officers and, according to Nusaybah, was planning to leave again to live in a Muslim country. "His whole concept was he wanted to live in a Muslim land because at the time he was being harassed by MI5.

"They were knocking and knocking on his door. He pretended not to be there, but then he spoke to the agent. They said, 'We just want to speak to you.' They wanted to ask him if he knew certain people," he said.

"But after him saying that he didn't know these individuals, he said they asked him if he would be interested in working for them. He was explicit in that he refused to work for them but he did confirm he didn't know the individuals."

"His word was, 'They are bugging me,'" said Nusaybah.

In a statement about the arrest after the interview, Scotland Yard said: "At around 2130 hours on Friday 24 May, a 31-year-old man was arrested in London by officers from the MPS Counter-Terrorism Command on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. The man has been taken to a south London police station, where he remains in custody. Search warrants are being executed at two residential addresses in east London. "

The Guardian has learned that, last year, Adebolajo went to a lawyer to complain of harassment by MI5, who are drawing criticism today for knowing about the 28-year-old but not assessing him to be a significant terrorist threat. He was arrested at the scene of the soldier's murder in Woolwich on Wednesday in the first terror-related death on mainland Britain since the London bombings on 7 July 2005.

The Guardian also understands from Whitehall sources that they were aware that Adebolajo has been detained in Kenya before being deported.

Straight after Abu Nusaybah's interview, just before 10.30pm, three officers from the Metropolitan police arrived at New Broadcasting House to arrest him, the broadcaster said. He was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

1. Woolwich suspect’s friend arrested after appearing on Newsnight
2. Woolwich suspects were known to MI5
3. Woolwich suspect’s friend describes shock at Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder – video

Michael Adebowale, who remains in hospital, was caught up in incident in which fellow victim was 'cut to pieces'

One of the men arrested for hacking to death a soldier in a London street witnessed a murder and was himself stabbed in a frenzied knife attack five years ago, the Guardian has learned.

Michael Adebowale, who was pictured holding a blade minutes after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday, had been caught up in an earlier fatal incident in January 2008 when he was 16.

One person was murdered in the bloody episode, having been "literally cut to pieces" by an assailant wielding a 12-inch knife, according to the judge at the trial that followed the incident, which happened on a housing estate in Erith.

Adebowale is now in a London hospital, under guard, after being shot by police at the scene where Rigby's body was found, stabbed with weapons including a knife, a cleaver and a machete. He and another man, Michael Adebolajo, have been arrested in connection with the murder.

Background information about Adebolajo, 28, was circulating soon after Wednesday's gruesome murder but it took a day before Adebowale's name began circulating in public. Relatively little has been known about his background until now.

A Greenwich neighbour of the 22-year-old said that after the earlier knife attack Adebowale disappeared for a year and converted to Islam, and that his character appeared to have changed.

The 2008 attack which Adebowale witnessed and suffered gives an insight to a life in chaos. It led to a trial that saw Lee James, 32, convicted of murdering an 18-year-old, Faridon Alizada, stabbing a 16-year-old in the neck, and stabbing Adebowale in the shoulder and hand.

According to information released by the Metropolitan police after the December 2008 trial: "Faridon Alizada was inside the flat with two friends (victims 2 and 3) when James entered the flat on the pretext of buying drugs.

"Having armed himself with a knife before going to the flat, he then attacked the three teenagers, fatally stabbing Faridon. Faridon died of his injuries at the scene.

"A postmortem later revealed two stab wounds to the chest over six inches deep, either of which would have been fatal."

According to a report in the local newspaper, the News Shopper, James went to the flat on the Larner Road estate from where drugs were sold. He visited it daily and was planning to rob those inside. Faridon was in the flat with the two 16-year-old friends when James entered at 3am, with another man. He was carrying a 12-inch knife hidden under his jacket and bought and smoked crack cocaine.

Sentencing James to life imprisonment, Judge Anthony Pitts said Faridon had tried to save the others, even after being stabbed. "He was literally cut to pieces by Lee James who went on to stab a third man, fortunately not so seriously.

"The murder was in the end only of one person but that was sheer chance. [Another victim] was wounded very, very seriously and was extremely lucky not to have been killed or incapacitated for life.

"Faridon had the extraordinary courage it seem to me to attempt to confront Lee James, not only to protect himself but also to protect the other 16-year-old. It was, of course, a hopeless mismatch."

The trial at Southwark crown court heard that James, a former bare knuckle fighter, accused Adebowale and the other youths, who were Afghans, of being members of al-Qaida and plotting to carry out explosions. The court heard claims that James was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis during the attack.

Madeleine Edwards, a family friend who lived in the same block of flats as Adebowale in Greenwich, south London, said he had been involved with a local gang – the Woolwich boys – when he was a young teenager and had been in "some serious gangland trouble".

She said he had been a witness in a high-profile murder trial and that his mother had said he had to "disappear for a while." He left for about a year and when he came back he appeared to have converted to Islam and had become distant. "He could see my disdain at the direction he had gone in," she said.

Police investigating Adebowale raided a flat on the fourth floor of a block in Greenwich on Thursday, about four miles from the site of Wednesday's attack.

Neighbours at the scene said the small flat in Macey House was the home of Adebowale, who they said lived there with his mother, although this has not been confirmed by police.

"I was so shocked when I saw his picture on the television," said Jonathan Ackworth, 42, who lives in the block. "I used to see him coming and going and would say hello – he seemed perfectly pleasant. Everybody is in total shock."

Ackworth said he had seen both suspects around the block of flats and the second attacker had lived at the address with his mother for several years and attended a local college in Greenwich.

Another neighbour, 22-year-old student Alexander Sargent, said: "I knew him mainly by sight. We'd see each other in the lift and say hello. He dressed quite 'street', if you know what I mean. I've not seen him around for a few months."

On video of the attack on Rigby on Wednesday, Adebowale can be seen carrying a knife, talking to passersby.

Footage shows him rushing at armed police when they arrived on the scene and being shot.

Adebowale and Adebolajo remain at separate hospitals where they are still too ill to be interviewed.

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3. Woolwich attack: police seeking source of suspect’s extremism

First briefing for head of intelligence committee as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ chiefs face public scrutiny over terror suspects

Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, is poised to deliver a preliminary report to the inquiry that is investigating what the service knew of the Woolwich terror suspects and whether any intelligence was missed that might have prevented the tragedy.

The investigation by the intelligence and security committee (ISC) is already under way, and its chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, told the Guardian he had received a telephone briefing from Parker shortly after the incident in which he had been able to share some information about the background to the men in custody.

"I have been briefed by the head of the security service, MI5, and we will be receiving an introductory written report from him early next week," said Sir Malcolm. "I have had a chance to speak to him, but the rest of the committee has not. He may well be giving evidence to us in private session over the coming weeks. This inquiry will be treated with a high priority."

It will be the first major investigation undertaken by the ISC with its new range of powers, which include being able to scrutinise MI5 operations, and demanding documents and files the committee had previously only been able to request.

The security service could only refuse to hand over sensitive material with a direct appeal to David Cameron, but the prime minister said on Thursday he expected the ISC to conduct a rigorous look at the role played by MI5, and the intelligence it had gathered on the two men.

Sir Malcolm said Parker might give evidence in private to the nine-strong committee ahead of an unprecedented public hearing, which is due to take place in July.

At the public meeting, Parker will join the MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers, and GCHQ director, Sir Iain Lobban, to answer questions from the ISC, whose members include Lord Butler, a former private secretary to five prime ministers, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader.

It will be the first time the heads of the three agencies have gone in front of the committee together – in public – and it will give the ISC a chance to question them in broad terms about the terrorist threat and the intelligence picture before this week's murder.

Criticised in the past for lacking credibility and being too sympathetic to the agencies, Sir Malcolm insisted the ISC now had the powers to hold the security services properly to account, though he warned it would be difficult for the committee to raise some sensitive issues during the joint public hearing.

He said the priority remained the police inquiry into the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, but he thought it was possible for the ISC to continue its own investigation concurrently – because the committee will question witnesses, and review files, behind closed doors. "This is the first inquiry that we will have done under the new powers. I am 100% sure the agencies will co-operate with us," said Sir Malcolm.

The security service and the police had files on the two suspects, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who had appeared as peripheral figures in counter-terrorist investigations over the last eight years. Adebolajo has been linked to the now outlawed group al-Muhajiroun.

One of the men is understood to have wanted to travel to Somalia to join the al-Qaida affiliate, al-Shabaab, but may have been deterred from going after being approached by the police.

Whitehall sources told the Guardian that MI5 was keen for the prime minister to confirm the men were known to the agency at this stage – to prevent allegations of a cover-up.

Downing Street has been told that MI5 did not consider the men to be a high risk or a danger to national security, because there was nothing in their background to suggest they would behave in the way they did on Wednesday.

Amid some strong media criticism of the service, a former head of counter-terrorism at MI6 said it was "incredibly hard to stop" attacks of this kind, which probably had little planning or preparation.

"I assume that these people are probably coming out of a small group without necessarily any overseas connections or any other broader connections in the United Kingdom which could come to the attention of the security services more than they did," said Richard Barrett.

"When does a person who expresses radical views, who joins a radical group, flip over to over to be a violent extremist? To find the signals, the red flags as it were, I think is enormously hard.

"I should imagine that these two people themselves probably didn't have any intention to commit a crime like this until relatively recently before they did. They must have had some indication that these guys were a problem in order to note their names. But it is one thing to note their names, it is quite another thing to take invasive action to track their movements and so on."

Professor Michael Clarke, the director of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said Wednesday's attack appeared to be crude operation that was hastily drawn up.

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3. Woolwich murder: David Cameron’s statement – video

Omar Bakri Mohammad, whose Islam classes were attended by Michael Olumide Adebolajo, says he still provides advice

The extremist preacher who claims to have schooled one of the suspects in Lee Rigby's murder in Islam, has said he still had influence in Britain despite being exiled from the country eight years ago.

Omar Bakri Mohammad led al-Muhajiroun, whose lectures and events were attended by Michael Olumide Adebolajo.

Mohammad told the Guardian he "provides advice" for his protege, Anjem Choudary, who is active in Britain – and runs "Skype courses" for others.

Al-Muhajiroun was banned in 2005 by the government over fears it could incite violence but its influence reverberates: a number of people convicted of terrorist linked offences have attended its events.

After 2005 a series of successor groups were set up to beat the ban, going under a series of names, from Saviour Sect, Islam4UK and Muslims against Crusades.

A series of people who attended the events of al-Muhajiroun and successor groups have been convicted of offences. Last month three men, including a convert to Islam and a former police employee, were jailed for secret conversations about preparing a possible terrorist strike against the United Kingdom.

Richard Dart, from Dorset, converted to Islam around 2010 after attending lectures by Choudary. Dart, Imran Mahmood, and Jahangir Alom, who was also schooled in an extremist interpretation of Islam by Choudary, were jailed for a total of more than 20 years for terrorist involvement.

Choudary said he had been a key influence in Dart's understanding of Islam. Dart, the son of teachers from Weymouth, changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani.

However, Bakri Mohammad, who now lives in Lebanon, denied any link to violence against Britain. He said: "The British government knew exactly what al-Muhajiroun stands for. We are nothing more than a political organisation conveying Islam in a peaceful way. Of his followers who have been convicted he said: "None have been arrested for terrorism offences."

Bakri Mohammad dissolved al-Muhajiroun in 2004, and said he left the country because he regarded counterterrorism laws as anti-Muslim which left him a choice to "migrate or fight", so he left.

Adebolajo attended the meetings from 2004 to around 2011 and, according to Bakri Mohammad, chose his own Muslim name after converting from his Christian upbringing. The name he chose, Mujaahid, means one engaged in jihad.

Bakri Mohammad originally came to prominence as the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), turning it into Britain's fastest growing Muslim group with his anti-Israel, anti-homosexual, anti-liberal rhetoric.

But he was ousted in 1996 when Hizb ut-Tahrir's middle eastern leadership decided he was too extreme. Bakri Mohammad set up al-Muhajiroun (the Emigrants), stressing that they were only against the state of Israel, not all Jews.

Bakri Mohammad was once arrested after he called for John Major's assassination, but was later released without charge. One of his favourite refrains over the years has been the prediction that Britain will one day become an Islamic state.

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Universities asked to draw up guidelines on handling preachers with track record of inciting hatred in aftermath of attack

A fresh drive to prevent radicalisation of impressionable students on campus is being launched in which universities will be asked to draw up guidelines on how to handle preachers who have a track record of inciting hatred, at the end of a dramatic week that saw a soldier murdered in Woolwich in the first terror-related incident on mainland Britain since the 7 July 2005 bombings.

Universities UK, which represents higher education institutions, launched a new campaign in an attempt to show students, unions and academics what they can do to constrain controversial preachers.

Ministers are reluctant to reach for a barrage of new legislation in the wake of the terrorist murder of a soldier outside Woolwich barracks, but recognise they need to do more to revive Labour's stalled Prevent strategy, which was introduced by the previous government in an attempt to forestall young people becoming involved with extremist groups.

One of the suspects in Wednesday's murder of Lee Rigby, Michael Adebolajo, converted to Islam in 2003 and attended events of the now banned al-Muhajiroun group. But it is not clear that there was any university link.

The limited government response emerged on the day that the family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby fought back tears at an emotionally charged press conference describing their shock that a soldier who had served in Afghanistan was killed in broad daylight on the streets of London.

Rigby's wife, Rebecca, and stepfather, Ian Rigby, spoke on behalf of the family at the regimental HQ of his unit, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, at Bury in Greater Manchester.

"I love Lee and always will," said Mrs Rigby. "I am proud to be his wife and he was due to come up this weekend so we could continue our future together as a family … You don't expect it to happen when he's in the UK. You think they're safe."

She said her husband, from Langley, in Middleton, Greater Manchester, was a devoted father to their two-year-old son, adding: "His proudest moments were serving in London on the ceremonials with the drum corps."

Conservative Muslims have urged the government to go further and publish its own official list of speakers that it believes universities should not allow.

Mohammed Amin, vice-chair of the Conservative Muslim forum yesterday urged the faiths minister, Lady Warsi, to consider publishing a list of the proscribed preachers.

Amin said: "Too many times institutions say they would have banned someone if they had known about their background, but by then it is too late. Only government has the resources to publish this list and to be free of the threat of legal action. If someone objected to being on the list they could appeal. It is not illiberal."

Rupert Sutton, from Student Rights, an organisation aimed at preventing extremism at universities, said he hoped universities would develop internal lists of speakers liable to preach hatred or violence. He added: "There is a problem with Prevent at many universities, partly because it comes from government and partly because it is seen as anti-Muslim. It needs to be refocused much more clearly as being opposed to extremism of both right and left."

The two suspects, Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were shot and arrested at the scene and remain in police custody in separate hospitals. It emerged earlier this week that the pair had been known to security services but had not been considered a serious threat.

Adebolajo was stopped when he arrived in Kenya on a recent visit – when he may have been intending to travel on to Somalia – and was subsequently deported. Last year he also complained of harassment by MI5, which is under fire for not taking further action.

The Guardian has been also told that the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, will next week deliver a preliminary report to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, responsible for parliamentary oversight, which is probing what the service knew of the Woolwich terror suspects.

However, despite this week's setback, the agencies are putting pressure on Whitehall not to slash back its budgets in the spending review this summer, a plea backed by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the chairman of the intelligence and security committee.

Yesterday morning, Ed Miliband made a private visit to Woolwich barracks to pay his respects and Nick Clegg told a meeting of faith leaders in London that people had a choice to reject the "corrosive feeling of fear" affecting their lives in the aftermath of the murder. The leader of the far-right British National party, Nick Griffin visited the scene of the killing in the afternoon.

At the press conference, Rigby's stepfather struggled to contain his emotions as he read a statement, painting a portrait of a young man who had fulfilled his ambition of joining the army and who drew immense pleasure from his family:

"What can we say about Lee, our hero? When Lee was born the family adored him, he was a precious gift given to us."

He said Rigby had realised his boyhood dream in joining the army. "He was dedicated and loved his job. Lee adored and cared a lot for his family; he was very much a family man, looking out for his wife, young son, Jack, younger sisters – who in turn looked up to him. He always had a banter with them but would never ever let any harm come to them."

The last text Rigby had sent to his mother, he said, read: "Goodnight mum, I hope you had a fantastic day today because you are the most fantastic and one-in-a million mum that anyone could ever wish for. Thank you for supporting me all these years, you're not just my mum you're my best friend. So goodnight, love you loads."

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Video-on-demand service hopes viewers will go bananas for cult US sitcom resurrected after seven years

When cult US sitcom Arrested Development returns on Sunday, seven years after it was axed, there will be more than the fortunes of the dysfunctional Bluth family at stake.

The fledgling video-on-demand service Netflix has turned to the Jason Bateman comedy in the latest round of its battle with traditional TV broadcasters for the eyes of the nation.

It comes after the US-based Netflix spent $100m (£66m) on the Kevin Spacey drama remake, House of Cards, which helped propel its subscribers in the UK to around the 2 million mark.

Exactly how many people watched House of Cards only Netflix knows. Unlike broadcasters such as the BBC and Sky, it prefers to keep its viewing figures to itself. But there is no shortage of anticipation around the return of Arrested Development, which was axed by Rupert Murdoch's Fox network after three series in 2006 (it aired in the UK on BBC2).

A family-based sitcom filmed in a documentary style and narrated by director (and former Happy Days star) Ron Howard, its audience dwindled during the course of its three-year run, but the show found a new life on DVD and online.

If a seven-year hiatus is unusual for a TV comedy, then so is the way it will return on Sunday, with all 15 episodes available to watch immediately. Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos said it reflects the way people watch television, binge viewing their favourite shows in one go.

"We think we can build a better product by giving people what they want," he says in an interview to be published in MediaGuardian on Monday. "In the world of weekly serialised TV, you get 50 minutes of joy watching the show you've been waiting for, and then 10,000 minutes of waiting for the next one.

"The chances are that something else is going to happen. There is too much noise in the world to depend on the fact that people are just going to come back every week."

ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham, would beg to differ. With around 10 million viewers tuning in on eight successive Monday nights to his murder mystery hit Broadchurch earlier this year, Fincham said it was a "reminder of the pleasure of deferred pleasures".

Netflix has long been predicting the death of linear television, but suggestions of its imminent demise have been exaggerated. Video-on-demand services such as the BBC's iPlayer (and Netflix) accounted for around 5% of all TV viewing in the UK in 2012, according to media analysis firm IHS Screen Digest. A further 10% of viewing was timeshifted programmes saved on to viewers' digital video recorders, such as Sky+. But the vast majority of viewing was still of linear TV schedules, which accounted for 85% of viewing last year and are expected to hold on to a 75% share in five years' time.

Richard Broughton, broadband director at IHS, said: "[Netflix takes] a risky path by releasing all the shows at once.

"One of the classic ways in which TV channels and pay TV companies build loyalty is by encouraging viewers to come back week after week. By putting all the episodes out in one go, it's effectively a single, very long film."

Other original Netflix shows have included the ultra-violent horror series Hemlock Grove, from Hostel director Eli Roth, which found an unlikely fan in the Tory MP John Whittingdale. The culture select committee chair said: "It contains a transformation scene of a man turning into a werewolf which makes the one in An American Werewolf in London look like Mary Poppins."

But a lot of Netflix's content is archive material, such as old series of acclaimed US dramas Breaking Bad and Mad Men. It has also signed up the rights for Ricky Gervais's Channel 4 comedy, Derek, outside the UK.

Sarandos said he was "sure we have a bigger audience here than Sky Atlantic does for Mad Men". But in the absence of Netflix ratings (Sky has around 70,000 viewers for its first showing of the Jon Hamm drama on a Wednesday night), this is impossible to verify.

A further challenge for Netflix is that it offers subscribers their first month of viewing for free, enabling people to gorge on their favourite shows without spending a penny.

Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz, a former writer on the sitcom classic The Golden Girls, was planning a film adaptation when the call came from Netflix to return it to the small screen.

"We'll hopefully create a new legacy," Hurwitz said. "I don't know that it'll be exactly the same legacy for this new run of shows as it was for the old … but that's what's fun about it – giving people what they don't expect."

Netflix's chief executive, Reed Hastings, said Arrested Development would be a phenomenon. Just don't expect audience figures any time soon.

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Business secretary expresses worry over big four's reluctance to support business lending and praises new-style banks

When Jonathan Eddy wanted finance for his Basingstoke-based business, one of the traditional high street banks offered him a competitively priced loan - but then threw in fees that made it too expensive for him to proceed. Eddy, managing director of Asset Advantage, has a clear view why. "The traditional high street banks have forgotten how to lend," he told Vince Cable on Friday on a tour of the Reading office of Aldermore, a new-style bank which came up with a financing deal that suited Eddy.

Another businessman, Paul Overfield, director of forklift truck maker Bendi, explained to the business secretary that big banks now wanted the bosses of established businesses - not just start-ups - to put up their homes for security for loans.

Cable is accustomed to hearing such views about the big four - Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays - and encouraging so-called challenger banks such as Aldermore to step up lending to the small businesses that he regards as the life blood of the economy.

The business secretary said it was "sad" and "worrying" that the Co-operative Bank was pulling out of new business lending.

"It is very sad and quite worrying really because we are losing competition," said Cable.

The situation has deteriorated ever since the Cruickshank report a decade ago which found that "business lending was basically an oligopoly with very high margins and very poor service", Cable said.

"Some 13 years on the structure of the industry is even more concentrated," said Cable. "

Attempts to foster competition are floundering. The Co-op had to pull out of talks to buy 632 branches from Lloyds and the sale of a branch network from the other bailed out bank, RBS, to Santander, also broke down. With both branch networks now destined for stock market flotations, reviving old brand names, Trustee Savings Bank and Williams & Glyn's respectively, Cable said he wanted to ensure they were more committed to business lending.

The financial crisis exacerbated the need for competition as competitors pulled out. Phillip Monks, chief executive of Aldermore, cited Irish and Icelandic banks as well as Dutch bank ING. "They've all cut back on their lending to [small and medium sized business] … the total supply of finance has diminished," said Monks.

Aldermore hopes to benefit from financing Cable's business bank which, eventually, aims to hand out £1bn to finance small business growth. The first £300m of loans are expected in the summer.

Cable said some international banks were expressing an interest in coming to the UK, such as the German savings banks Sparkasse.

But he remained concerned about the lending strategies of the bailed out banks, even as the debate about how to privatise them takes centre stage after the International Monetary Fund called on George Osborne this week to devise a "clear strategy". Loosening lending criteria could be "in the interests of the wider economy … but they will argue that the short-term interest of their shareholders are not well served (by doing that)", he said.

Stephen Hester, the RBS boss, recently insisted that the 81% state-owned bank lends more than any other bank and has £20bn available to lend to viable customers. But the British Bankers' Association released data on Friday showing business lending had fallen again in April, the third consecutive month of net repayments and the fifth in six months.

Cable said he was not an advocate of a quick sell off of RBS, whose shares are trading at a £14bn loss on the £45bn pumped in by taxpayers.

"We've all agreed that in the long run they [the bailed out banks] should go back into private ownership but particularly in the case of RBS I don't see what the hurry is," said Cable.

"The share price is so far below the original acquisition price," said Cable. "And there are issues which anybody wanting to buy bank shares would have to consider – the question of competition commission referral is still there," said Cable.

"There is a legal process … there is quite a strong possibility that something might happen," he said, referring to the recommendation by the Independent Commission on Banking that a competition review should take place in 2015 if competition on the high street had not improved by then. Earlier this month the Office of Fair Trading also said it would take until 2015 to see if measures to make it easier to move current accounts, being introduced in September, would make a big difference to high street banking.

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Major Projects Authority's performance report on 170 most expensive projects gives flagship scheme same 'amber-red' status as Crossrail and HS2

The first official government admission that Iain Duncan Smith's flagship plans to remake the welfare state has hit trouble emerged on Friday night when the Cabinet Office's review of all major Whitehall projects branded the universal credit programme as having fallen into "amber-red" status, a category designating a project in danger of failing.

The revelation came as the government for the first time published the performance of its 170 most expensive and important projects, collectively worth over £350bn. Data has been exempted from only 21 projects in the review by the Major Projects Authority (MPA), where disclosure would damage commercial interests or national security.

Crossrail and HS2, the cross-London and north-south high-speed rail links, have the same amber-red status – as does the Department for Work and Pension's fraud and error programme, and its plans to introduce personal independence payments.

Publication led to fierce infighting in Whitehall as government departments disputed the listings and fought to prevent publication. In total eight projects are rated red, 23 are amber-red, 32 green, 49 amber-green and 58 amber.

The Cabinet Office hailed the publication, saying the MPA's annual report overturns Whitehall secrecy and will help further improve project delivery. The MPA, acting on behalf of taxpayers, has powers to intervene on failing projects, and its boss David Pitchford admitted civil service control of the projects had not been great.

An MPA rating of amber-red will anger the DWP, which has insisted that universal credit is on time and on budget. A soft launch of the scheme started a month ago, but the amber-red rating will raise questions as to whether it will comply with its timetable.

A DWP spokesperson claimed the rating was out of date, but the government said last September that the scheme was on track – an assertion that is now challenged by this MPA report.

The DWP said: "This rating reflects where the project was eight months ago rather than now. Since this September 2012 assessment, the universal credit pathfinder has successfully launched and David Pitchford – the government's leading expert in major projects – has put in place a strengthened plan and leadership team. We are on course to begin the national rollout of universal credit in October 2013."

The DWP added "these updates are all part of responsible project management – helping us spot risks in advance and then deal with them. We have used the ongoing MPA reviews to inform our planning as we go."

The MPA said: "Universal credit provides a new single system of means-tested support for working-age people who are in or out of work. It aims to reduce the number of workless households by reducing the financial and administrative barriers to work that exist in the current system of benefits and tax credits, and replacing the complexity of the income-related benefits system with a single payment which supports people to find work, find more work, and find better paid work."

Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, was unrepentant about publication of the progress report, saying: "Major projects need scrutiny and support if we are to succeed in the global race. Publishing this report will transform the management of expensive, important projects and will help hold Whitehall to account.

"I was staggered when I came into government and found a relaxed approach to managing projects worth hundreds of billions of pounds. Problems were swept under the carpet where they festered at the taxpayers' expense. In many places the civil service lacked project management skills and had a lamentable record of project delivery.

"Since the general election we have got things back on track and are equipping the civil servants with the skills they need. Our new Major Projects Authority has helped save over £1.7bn – that's £100 per working household. There's much more to do but thanks to the work of excellent officials we now expect to double the success rate of major projects, compared with the figures from 2010."

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