After a difficult few months we have a more positive picture from the Palace.

A personal moment of the King and Queen released with the news he can now return to public duties.

It’s the details he will be delighted to share.

Not only are his medics “encouraged” with his progress, and “positive” about his recovery, they’re also happy he can get back to work.

And for a man who is widely reported to be a workaholic, this will be wholly welcome.

This was not how he’d imagined the first year after his coronation.

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He knows from his late mother’s mantra, a monarch has to be seen to be believed.

But his cancer diagnosis changed everything.

The royal year so meticulously mapped out was put on pause with unprecedented and huge uncertainty.

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The King’s constitutional work has continued, but the public outings were stopped.

His family has stepped up to support him, and protocols were in place should the need arise.

But it has been an incredibly challenging time for the House of Windsor.

News of the Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis a double blow for the family.

There remains a lot of uncertainty; the King won’t return to full duties, and his engagements will be adapted to reduce the risk while he recovers. There’s also no confirmation yet about the big set piece events like Trooping the Colour or an overseas state visit.

But this is a significant moment. And the King’s return to public work will start with a personally poignant visit, as he and the Queen meet patients and staff at a cancer treatment centre.

The deaths of the Reading terror attack victims were “probably avoidable” and contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies, an inquest has found.

Friends James Furlong, 36, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and David Wails, 49, were stabbed to death by Khairi Saadallah, now 29, in Forbury Gardens on 20 June 2020.

Three other people were also injured before Saadallah, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), threw away the eight-inch knife and ran off, pursued by an off-duty police officer.

Saadallah was handed a whole-life sentence at the Old Bailey in January 2021 after pleading guilty to the three murders and three attempted murders.

Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford today delivered his findings on the killings of history teacher Mr Furlong, pharmaceuticals manager Mr Ritchie-Bennett, and scientist Mr Wails.

Mr Fulford said the deaths “probably would have been avoidable” if the mental health service had given “greater priority to stabilising [Saadallah] and securing access to long-term psychological therapy”.

He added that if his “extremist risk had been better analysed”, Saadallah would probably then have been recalled to custody the day before the attacks, meaning they would never have happened.

The coroner said the deaths of the three men were “contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies”.

Saadallah, who came to the country as a teenager from Libya, where he was trained to fight as a child soldier for a group now banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK, had a long history of offending and was released from prison on licence just 15 days before the attack.

The inquest heard six weeks of evidence looking at his management while he was in jail and on probation, his mental health and the assessment and response to his risk of terrorism.

The Old Bailey heard the Home Office dealt with Saadallah with “woeful inadequacy”, while he was referred to the government’s Prevent de-radicalisation programme four times.

MI5 “triaged” him on four separate occasions, once opening a “lead investigation”, but the security service said they found no evidence he planned to leave the country or commit an attack.

Saadallah had a string of previous convictions for offences including violence and possession of a knife, and spent repeated spells in jail between 2015 and 2020.

Prison intelligence reports showed a pattern of fighting, threats to staff, self-harming and suspected drug use, along with references to extremism.

A counsellor said she “harassed” mental health services to examine him in the year before the killings, while one probation officer broke down in court as she recalled unknowingly “managing an unconvicted murderer”.

The inquest also heard Thames Valley Police officers did not find a knife at Saadallah’s home during a “welfare check” the day before the attack after they were not told he was threatening to harm himself and others.

‘Catastrophically failed’

Mr Furlong’s father Gary said the victims’ families had listened with “shock and utter disappointment” to the evidence, which had led them to “fundamentally question” whether their faith in authorities to protect their loved ones was misplaced.

“Our boys did not stand a chance,” he said.

Dr Wails’s brother Andrew said UK state agencies had “catastrophically failed” in their duty to protect the public from Saadallah and that the attack “destroyed our lives”.

Calling Saadallah a “cowardly terrorist”, Andrew Wails said: “[He] had been a member of a proscribed terrorist group and murdered people, he confessed to throwing grenades at people in public places in Libya, yet he was let into the UK and allowed to remain here.”

Parallels to London Bridge stabbings

Nick Harborne, chief of Reading Refugee Support Group, also said the stabbings “could have been avoided” having warned various bodies about Saadallah months before the attack.

When the news of the stabbings broke, Mr Harborne “instantly knew it was Saadallah”.

He said he had tried to communicate with Prevent, community mental health services, and the Probation Service, to notify them of Saadallah’s “potential for violence”.

Mr Harborne likened Saadallah’s trajectory to the terrorist Usman Khan who committed the 2019 London Bridge stabbings, and he referred to the attack in his communications with the various agencies.

“There is stuff we could all have done better… The tragedy didn’t have to happen,” he said.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe of Counter Terrorism Policing South said was “still work to do” to address the issues surrounding the case.

He added: “In this moment it is also important to reflect on the terrorist threat that we in UK policing and our partners face. It is significant and continually evolving.

“Many of the cases we are working on now involve people with complex mental health and social needs. We also are seeing more individuals with mixed or unclear ideology, who can be more difficult to assess and manage.”

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The Foreign Office has summoned Russia’s ambassador to the UK after a British man was charged over an arson plot on London businesses linked to Ukraine.

The 20-year-old man is accused of masterminding alleged hostile state activity to benefit Moscow, in part by recruiting others for the arson attack last month.

“The UK remains deeply concerned by allegations of Russian orchestrated malign activity on UK soil,” a spokesperson for the ministry said on Friday.

“We call for an immediate cessation of this activity and we will continue to work with our allies to deter and defend against the full spectrum of threats that emanate from Russia.”

Dylan Earl is alleged to have engaged in conduct targeting the businesses in order to benefit the Russian state.

He has been charged under the National Security Act 2023 – the first case to involve alleged offences under the new spy laws.

Earl is accused of undertaking fraudulent activity, research and reconnaissance of targets, and attempting to recruit individuals to materially assist a foreign intelligence service carrying out UK-related activities, prosecutors say.

After news emerged of the charge, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it had summoned Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin.

Earl is accused of organising and paying for an arson attack on two units on an industrial estate in Leyton, east London, on 20 March.

The blaze required 60 firefighters to bring it under control.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, writing on X on Friday, said he was “deeply concerned by allegations of British nationals carrying out criminal activity on UK soil to benefit the Russian state”.

He added: “We will use the full weight of the criminal justice system to hold anyone found guilty of crimes linked to foreign interference to account.”

Four others have also been charged in connection with the case, it can now be reported.

Reporting restrictions were lifted on Friday allowing all the defendants to be named, the CPS said in a statement.

Two other men – Paul English, 60, and Nii Mensah, 21 – have been charged with aggravated arson.

Jake Reeves, 22, has been charged with agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service – as well as aggravated arson.

A fifth man – Dmitrijus Paulauska, 22 – has been charged with having information about terrorist acts.

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Earl appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London last Saturday – and English and Mensah on Monday. They were all remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 10 May.

Reeves and Paulauska appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday – and their cases were adjourned to the same date.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command, said: “While these are very serious allegations, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them in connection with this matter.” He added: “This investigation remains ongoing.”

Nick Price, head of the CPS’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Criminal proceedings against these defendants are active. No one should report, comment or share information online which could in any way prejudice their right to a fair trial.”