Texas hostage taker had criminal and mental health history in UK

A British man who flew to the US, acquired a gun and took hostages at a Texas synagogue had a criminal record and an extensive history of mental health issues, the Guardian understands.

Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old from Blackburn, was killed after a tense 11-hour hostage standoff at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville on Saturday evening. All four hostages survived the siege and were unharmed.

The Guardian understands that Akram had a criminal record in the UK but no known terrorism convictions. Investigators in the UK believe that Akram had no connection to Texas and travelled there earlier this month. Officers at MI5, the British Security Service, were on Monday examining their records to see if he had ever been known to them.

Akram had been the subject of an exclusion order in 2001 banning him from Blackburn magistrates court after he made remarks about the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, saying he wished a court usher had been on the planes flown into buildings to commit mass murder.

During the synagogue siege, Akram could be heard demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, who was convicted in 2010 of trying to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan. Siddiqui is in federal prison in Texas serving an 86-year sentence.

A community source in Blackburn said Akram was known to behave unusually, including in and around mosques in the Lancashire town.

Lancashire Council of Mosques also condemned the hostage situation in Texas and urged its members to avoid speculation and sharing unverified information.

The standoff began during a Saturday morning service at the Reform synagogue in the affluent city of about 26,000 residents. The service was being live streamed on Facebook when a man with a British accent could be heard shouting off camera. The feed was eventually cut hours later and police were called at about 10.41am.