The brother of Salih Khater, the driver who rammed into a barrier outside the Houses of Parliament, in the UK capital, London, on Tuesday has described him as a "normal person" with no fanatical ideas and no links to any religious group.

Abdullah Khater told the BBC his brother had gone to the UK as a refugee from Sudan and was granted asylum.

He said the family were in "a state of shock" and Salih had been planning to visit Sudan for next week's Hajj holidays.

“Salih migrated to the UK soon after he’d graduated from university to improve the living conditions for himself and his family,” he said, adding that he was granted citizenship after seven years.

Salih had studied electrical engineering at the Sudan University of Science and Technology.

The family is originally from Sudan's eastern region of Darfur, but migrated years ago to Gezira state, an area south of the capital, Khartoum famous for its irrigation, where his father worked as a farmer.