London bridge attackers lawfully killed, jury concludes

LONDON: A jury has concluded the London Bridge terrorists, who killed eight people and injured 48 others, were lawfully shot dead by police.

Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, mowed down pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing random members of the public around Borough Market. They were armed with ceramic knives and had fake suicide belts strapped around their waists during the marauding attack on the evening of June 3, 2017. The rampage was halted after less than 10 minutes when the attackers confronted three armed police in Stoney Street.

The Old Bailey heard that the officers shouting warnings and opened fire as Butt, Redouane and Zaghba came at them. In the hail of bullets, a man in the nearby Wheatsheaf pub was hit by a stray round but survived.

Fearing Butt and Redouane could still detonate explosive devices as they lay injured, the police officers shot at them again, jurors were told. A bomb disposal expert told the court he only realised the suicide belts were fake after he cut them off the dead bodies and held them up.

Jurors deliberated for three-and-a-half hours to conclude that all three attackers were lawfully killed by police after they “ignored clear warning shouts”.

Chief coroner Mark Lucraft QC had directed them that was the only “safe” conclusion in the circumstances.

He praised the actions of the armed officers and said nothing less than “lethal force” had been appropriate. He told jurors: “You may well agree they acted with courage and they only used such force as was necessary.”

During the inquest, jurors visited the spot in Stoney Street where Butt, Redouane and Zaghba died and heard dramatic accounts of the final moments. Pc Sam Balfour, 25, and Pc Bartek Tchorzewski, 36, were among unarmed officers who tracked the attackers through Borough Market.

In an interview coinciding with the conclusion of the inquest, Pc Tchorzewski said: “We were just thinking about stopping them. Assume the worst and you try to think what you may encounter and what we will do. “But to be honest nothing can prepare you for that. No briefings.”

A separate inquest concluded victims Xavier Thomas, 45, Chrissy Archibald, 30, Sara Zelenak, 21, James McMullan, 32, Kirsty Boden, 28, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, Sebastien Belanger, 36, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, were unlawfully killed.