The photographer who captured an image of a woman in a hijab walking past terror attack victims on Westminster Bridge has defended her actions as “completely appropriate” and said the image had been wildly “misappropriated”.

The woman has been viciously attacked online, with far-right supporters and anti-Islam websites using it as “evidence” of her indifference to the scene.

However, press photographer Jamie Lorriman told The Independent the woman was clearly “traumatised” and “visibly distressed”. He said she was just one of hundreds fleeing the bridge, trying to avoid looking at the “horror surrounding them.”

“Her behaviour was completely in line with everyone else on the bridge, but you're not assuming others are callously ignoring the scenario,” he said.

“So many other people were walking all over the place - everybody that was on the ground had someone with them, if everybody had stopped and tried to help you would never have been able to help anyone.

Sequence frame showing a woman visibly distressed passing the scene of the terrorist incident on Westminster Bridge, London. (Jamie Lorriman)

“The whole thing takes away from the horror of the situation. Nobody would know how they would react, it’s a situation you can't be prepared to be thrown into.

“I couldn't possibly tell you what that woman was thinking after what she had witnessed, and I was there - so somebody behind a keyboard could not either.”

He also criticised those taking the image out of context, saying: “I wish there was something I could do about it being misused and misinterpreted.”

“It’s people who clearly have an agenda they want to push and will just put whatever they think out there,” he said.

“I think hate is how it can be categorised - whether it’s racial, islamic, whatever - people who hate they will use anything as the weapon of their opinion.”

At least 50 people were injured after terrorist Khalid Masood ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. He then fatally stabbed PC Keith Palmer before being shot to death.

Westminster attack: How the day unfolded