Officers swept room 228, in which he had stayed, for clues and took CCTV footage from the hotel, where rooms are said to cost £59 a night.

A source told The Sun that Masood had chatted to staff and guests normally before checking out, saying he was “off to London today”.

"No one knows why he came. He used a credit card with the name Masood to check in on Tuesday at 11.30am," the source told the newspaper.

“Police traced him to the hotel because he got a receipt and left it in the car. It was definitely the car he used in the attack because that was parked in the car park when he stayed here. It was a hire car.

“He was very English but mixed race with a big beard.