Jury heard that three attackers ignored clear warning shouts before they were shot dead

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The three terrorists whose rampage left eight people dead at London Bridge were lawfully shot dead by armed police officers after they ignored clear warning shouts, an inquest jury has found.

During the June 2017 attack the men first ran over pedestrians on London Bridge, then stabbed Saturday night revellers in 10 minutes of carnage.

The London Bridge attack: brutality, heroism and troubling questions Read more

It ended only after armed officers who rushed to the scene confronted them in Borough Market, only for the three attackers to charge at them clutching 12-inch knives.

Dramatic video shows armed officers firing, in one case from only 60 centimetres away. They shot the ringleader, Khuram Butt, and his accomplices, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba, all of whom lived in east London.

Firing continued after the attackers had been shot because they were wearing what appeared to be explosive belts, and officers feared their movement showed they were still trying to detonate them.

In all, police fired 46 shots at the terrorists to end the UK’s first “marauding” attack, where perpetrators run through a crowded area. The explosive belts turned out to be fakes, made up of plastic canisters.

At least six bullets struck both Butt, 27, and Redouane, 30. Zaghba, 22, was hit by at least two bullets.

PC Sam Balfour, 25, was among unarmed officers who tracked the attackers through Borough Market. In an interview coinciding with the conclusion of the inquest, he said: “We started to shout, ‘That’s them, that’s them’, pointing out those terrorists, ‘Shoot them’.”

An armed officer identified only as BX46 told jurors he shouted words to the effect of “armed police, stand still, drop the knife”, believing he was in immediate danger as Butt came at him.

He said: “At this point I was aware that around his torso he was wearing an improvised explosive device ... I moved the fire selector lever to fire and I pulled the trigger.”

His colleague BX44 also shot at Butt but had to break away to shoot at Redouane as he bore down on another colleague, BX45.

He said: “I carried on firing until I had to deal with the third threat of Youssef Zaghba who was on top of me.

“I was backing away trying to create a reactionary gap when I fired and fell backwards, and as I fell backwards I fired and from the floor I fired through my legs up to his chest.”

PC Iain Rae said he went to handcuff Redouane as he moved on the ground while his colleague PC Tim Andrews handcuffed Butt, who was injured.

Rae said: “His arms and legs were moving and I knew he had an IED [improvised explosive device] strapped to him.

“I did not know they were fake. I had to make a split-second decision – if I don’t go and do something there is going to be a lot more lives lost.

“I had to handcuff him and stop him from detonating that device, if they were real or not.

“As I went over there to handcuff that person I was shouted at by firearms officers. They have told me to get out and I have taken their advice and I ran.”

The firearms officers then used “lethal force” to avert the danger that the terrorists would detonate explosive devices, jurors heard.

Last month, the inquest of the eight victims ended with the coroner, Mark Lucraft QC, clearing MI5 and police of failing to prevent the terror attack despite having Butt under investigation since 2015 – a decision criticised by the victims’ families.

He did criticise the failure to erect protective barriers on the bridge to thwart a vehicle attack three months after an attack on Westminster Bridge.

Lucraft, the chief coroner for England and Wales, is expected to produce a report containing recommendations to prevent future deaths.

The eight victims were Chrissy Archibald, 30, from Canada; Sébastien Bélanger, 36, a French chef; Kirsty Boden, 28, a nurse from Australia; Ignacio Echeverría Miralles De Imperial, 39, from Spain; James McMullan, 32, from Brent, north-west London; Alexandre Pigeard, 26, a French restaurant worker; Xavier Thomas, 45, a French national; and Sara Zelenak, 21, an Australian national.