London: The quick-thinking bystanders who ran toward danger to help others during a terrorist attack on London Bridge on Friday swiftly earned the title of "heroes". But for the family of 21-year-old Amanda Champion, who was murdered in 2003, one of the men who intervened as the fatal knifing unfolded is anything but heroic.

Police officers investigate the scene of the attacks in central London on Saturday. Credit:AP

Convicted murderer James Ford, 42, was on day release from prison when he saw the attack unfolding and rushed to help during the chaos. According to British media reports, Ford had attended the same prisoner rehabilitation event as 28-year-old attacker Usman Khan, a convicted Islamist terrorist, who killed two people before being shot dead by police.

"He is not a hero. He is a murderer out on day release, which us as a family didn't know anything about. He murdered a disabled girl. He is not a hero, absolutely not," Amanda's aunt, Angela Cox, told the Daily Mail on Friday. "I don't care what he's done today, he's a murderer," she said.

"Yes, he did something nice, but that doesn't make up for what he has done. He's not a hero, and he never will be," Cox told BBC News on Saturday.