He argued that a lone attack was hard to prevent and repeated his ongoing warning that terrorism was an inevitable threat.
"The other was for a lone wolf attack". Referring to previous terror attacks on the streets of London, he said Mr Ahmed was "no different to those individuals".
The successful apprehension of Sunday's perpetrator will allow British forces to potentially gain intelligence over whether this particular attack involved a Taliban trained sleeper agent, or whether it was a lone wolf attack by someone with a grudge.
The first appeared to be a "lone wolf" attack (although Hamas later claimed responsibility).
"It didn't feel like a lone person attack at all," he added.
Indeed, a lone rocket attack from southern Lebanon that kills a large number of Israeli civilians is a distinct possibility.
Anne Whyte QC, prosecuting, said Mohammed "resolved upon a lone wolf attack" and El-Hassan was well aware of his plan.
They are under arrest and receiving treatment in separate hospitals.It seems likely that this was a "lone wolf" attack, similar to the Boston marathon bombing.
Haider Ahmed, now aged 19, denies plotting a "lone wolf attack" with a hunting knife.
As Veryan Khan of the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium put it, "No one can really prepare for a lone wolf style attack".
While the police said they were investigating whether the episode was a so-called lone-wolf attack or could have been connected to an extremist group, the attack spurred soul-searching.
