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One of the heroes of the London Bridge terror attack was a murderer out on day release, it has been reported.

It is understood that James Ford rushed to the scene and tried to save the life of a woman who had been attacked by the terrorist Usman Kahn.

Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, Khan was tackled by members of the public - including one with a narwhal tusk - before he was shot dead by police on London Bridge.

Ford, now 42, was jailed for life – with a minimum of 15 years – in April 2004 for the murder of a 21-year-old with learning difficulties.

(Image: PA)

Amanda Champion – who had the mental age of a 15-year-old – was found strangled and with her throat cut on waste ground near her home in Ashford, Kent, the previous July.

Amanda's family had tried to block Ford's parole, and only found out he had been released from his sentence in a call from their police liaison officer after the attack on Friday, according to newspaper reports.

Whitehall sources confirmed that Ford – who had been serving the final days of his sentence at HMP Standford Hill, an open prison in Kent – was on London Bridge yesterday.

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Amanda's aunt Angela Cox, 65, was left shocked and angry after the phone call from Kent Police.

Despite Ford's part in disarming the knifeman, she told the Daily Mail: "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.

"The police liaison officer called me saying he was on the TV. I am so angry. They let him out without even telling us. Any of my family could have been in London and just bumped into him.

"It was a hell of a shock. It is a horrible thing. She said, 'Have you heard about the incident in London today?' and I hadn't. She said, 'Put in on now and you will see James Ford on the telly.

"She said, 'Don't worry, it is not him that's done anything, he's there and he is being classed as a hero.' For him to be called a hero – he is not, he is a cold-blooded murderer.

"For no reason whatsoever, he just went out and murdered a disabled person. I don't care what he's done today, he's a murderer. He is scum. Amanda was my niece and she was vulnerable and he took her life. He knew what he was doing. People don't change."

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the London Bridge attacker was a convicted terrorist released less than seven years into a 16-year prison sentence for a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

A man and a woman were killed in the knife rampage on Friday afternoon and three other people injured are being treated in hospital.