Man stops to take a selfie in front of Westminster attack victims

A man who appeared to take selfies in front of the scene of the deadly Westminster attack has sparked outrage.

Three people were killed and dozens more injured in the terrorist rampage on Wednesday, when an attacker mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death outside the Houses of Parliament. The suspected terrorist, named by police as 52-year-old Khalid Masood, was shot dead at the scene.

Witnesses said the aftermath of the attack, which started at around 2.40 pm, looked like a “Hollywood disaster movie”. The emergency services said they reached the scene in six minutes and quickly cordoned off the area.

Social media users expressed anger at the image of the man wearing sunglasses posing in front of the emergency services near Parliament. Alongside a post of the photo, one Twitter user wrote: “This photo is everything that's wrong with humanity.”

Sara Dunn tweeted: “Those who are actually taking selfies and photos of injured people should be found and prosecuted. It's absolutely disgusting.”

Many were also critical of the decision by some Twitter users to post graphic images of the victims of the attack.

It emerged on Thursday that the terrorist who went on a killing spree was previously known to security security services and had been investigated by MI5 over violent extremism.

Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that the British-born attacker was a "peripheral" figure who was "not part of the current intelligence picture".

It came as Isis claimed the perpetrator was one of its "soldiers", while police activity in connection with the investigation has been reported in a number of areas around the country.