POLICE in Southend met with the town’s Muslim leaders in response to the third terrorist attack to take place in London in the last three months.

Officers will increase patrols after one man died and ten people were injured when a man drove a van into a crowd outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, North London, just after midnight yesterday.

A white man, aged 48, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He was still in custody at time of going to press.

The attack followed an incident in Westminster in March in which a police officer was killed and an attack at London Bridge and Borough Market in which eight people, plus three terrorists, died.

Southend district commander Chief Insp Scott Cannon said a meeting was scheduled to be held yesterday with leaders of the town’s three mosques.

He said: “We will be linking up with the three local mosques in Southend just to reassure the local community and worshippers and to increase patrols in the areas.

“When we have these incidents in London we do meet with the faith leaders.”

In the hours following the Westminster attack on March 22, a Westcliff man called police and claimed to have left two kilograms of explosives outside the Southend Mosque, in West Road, Westcliff.

Specialist officers searched the mosque but did not find anything suspicious.

Christopher Massey, 46, from Westcliff, was later jailed for 12 months at Basildon Crown Court.

At the time, prosecutor Cyrus Shroff told the court: “When he was arrested, he said that he was a racist.

“In interview, he said that he recalled speaking to an operator and wanted to know where the mosque was because he wanted to put Semtex through the window because he was so frustrated about the terror attack.”

Mr Cannon said the mosque leaders had stayed calm during the incident but remained vigilant and there was no repeat of the incident following the London Bridge attack.

He said: “They were quite relaxed about that but we were talking to them yesterday afternoon so I can’t say how they are feeling now.”

In a statement, the Muslim Council of Britain said this was the “most violent manifestation to date” of recent Islamophobic incidents.

It said: “We expect the authorities to increase security outside mosques as a matter of urgency.”

Following the London Bridge attack, the Essex Jammes Masjid Trust, based in Chelmsford Road, Southend, said the incident was “horrific and abhorrent”.

Leaders were approached for a comment but did not respond at time of going to press.