ONE of the London Bridge terror attackers was married to a woman from Scotland and had recently lived in the Irish Republic, it has been reported.

Police chiefs in Dublin said they were liaising with counterparts in the UK amid reports that the killer had Irish papers and had been living in the Dublin suburb of Rathmines until as recently as one year ago.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that the attacker was a Moroccan man and had been married to a Scottish woman.

The Metropolitan Police said it would not comment on matters related to any of the three attackers' identities but that this could change by the end of Monday.

The reports come as it emerges the suspected 27-year-old ringleader appeared in a Channel 4 documentary last year about British jihadists and unfurled an ISIS-style flag in Regent's Park.

He was also caught on camera alongside two notorious preachers who were well known to police and intelligence officials because of their extremist views.

A friend of the suspect, been referred to in reports as 'Abz', called the anti-terror hotline because he became obsessed with watching hate preacher videos on YouTube and police were later warned he was trying to radicalise children in a local park and giving them treats to listen to him.

He also invited neighbours to a barbecue last week, which some now believe was a 'send-off' ahead of the attack.

As more details are reported about the trio, it has been claimed that Abz, who was wearing an Arsenal football top during the attack, had became radicalised around 2013 and had an arranged marriage which produced two children. His older brother, meanwhile, went on to volunteer for the Army Reserves.

Abz also berated an Imam for encouraging worshippers to vote in the 2015 General Election and was banned from the mosque in the ensuing row.

It was reported that he was traumatised at the age of eight when he found his father dead in bed and had been run over outside his house in East London that same year and left with a permanent limp.

It was reported this evening that Abz's family had asked to 'grieve in peace' as it emerged the terrorist held a farewell barbecue at his flat in Barking, where guests were handed cupcakes.

Neighbour Ramou Grant told Good Morning Britain: "Last week he called for a barbecue and invited all of us. I'm thinking, 'was this a send-off?'."

Another neighbour claimed that they warned police about the suspect radicalising children in a local park two years ago.

The three attackers, who were wearing fake suicide bomb vests, used a van to mow down pedestrians on London Bridge before running amok with knives in Borough Market, slitting the throats of innocent bystanders. One is reported to have yelled: 'This is for Allah.'

They left at least seven dead and 48 injured before police marksmen halted their stabbing spree.

According to reports, one of the trio had preached to people at his flat, worked on the transport network and worked for a few hours a week at an Islamic fitness centre where he also took part in boxing and taekwondo.

He was also described as "a nice guy" by a neighbour, who said: "Once I helped him when his car broke down and he came round the next day with some food for me.

"Then, two days before the attack, I saw him holding the door to his flat's open for an old lady. He was a nice guy.

"He was always smiling. But he always went to his own mosque so I never prayed with him."

Among those detained in subsequent raids are a number of people taken into custody at the suspect's home in Barking, east London, where he lived with his wife, two young children and elderly mother.

It is understood that MI5 has to prioritise monitoring those jihadists who have known attack plans – and that just because a person has been flagged up as an extremist and is known to the security services this does not mean they were known to be a risk.

Intelligence officers have identified 23,000 jihadist extremists living in Britain as potential terrorist attackers. Last week senior Whitehall sources pointed to the 'unprecedented' scale of the threat facing the security services.

At any one time MI5 has around 500 live investigations, of which several are plots to attack in the UK.