I received a message in my inbox earlier this year from a certain Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, whose profile claimed that Germany was guilty of “Islamising Europe”.

Little did I know that the sender would end up being the main suspect in Friday’s Christmas market attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, when an SUV fatally ploughed into a dense crowd at high speed.

A nine-year-old child was among the five dead. Of the 205 injured, around 40 remain in critical condition as doctors fight to save their lives. 

Sent in August from a curious-looking account with over 40,000 followers and an Arabic name, the message read: “If this is interesting to you, can you please look at my tweets about German police and prosecutors.”

The bizarre post included a 12-minute video dedicated to Tommy Robinson, the far-Right activist, and listed all of Abdulmohsen’s grievances against ex-Muslim organisations.

Just as strange was the video’s narrator – an AI-generated Elon Musk complete with moving lips that “Dr Taleb Al Abdulmohsen” used to refer to himself in the third person.