The hero Polish chef who took on the London Bridge attacker with a narwhal tusk has been released from hospital.
The man, whose name is Lukasz, has won admiration from the Queen, political leaders and grateful Londoners after fighting Usman Khan on London Bridge while others battled the terrorist with a fire extinguisher.
Poland’s government has already announced plans to award Lukasz a medal for ‘sacrifice and courage’, praising him for ‘helping to overpower the terrorist’.
Last night sources in the Warsaw foreign ministry told Polish media that Lukasz had been released from hospital, where he was treated for stab wounds but was not critically hurt.
Polish diplomats are now said to be in contact with UK police, and authorities are keeping Lukasz’s full name under wraps to protect his safety.
Lukasz is believed to have taken the 5ft whale tusk from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall where the attack began on Friday afternoon.
Terrorist Usman Khan had been attending a conference on prisoner rehabilitation at the hall, where Lukasz worked.
A colleague told The Times: ‘Lukasz grabbed a nearby pole and ran at him, getting stabbed in the hand in the process but continued to pin him down.
‘Being stabbed didn’t stop him giving him a beating. Lukasz is a hero.’
Footage which emerged yesterday showed Lukasz wielding the narwhal tusk as he and a group of men try to pin down the attacker, who was shot dead by police shortly afterwards.
Yesterday a spokesman for Poland’s justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro revealed that the minister would ask the country’s president to award a medal.
Footage showed Lukasz fighting Usman Khan on London Bridge while others battled the terrorist with a fire extinguisher
Lukasz is believed to have taken the 5ft tusk from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall where the attack began on Friday afternoon
Mr Ziobro supports ‘awarding Mr Lukasz with the Medal for Sacrifice and Courage for risking his own life, he helped overpower the terrorist,’ the spokesman said.
‘In this case he decided that in connection with the fact that Lukasz’s heroism has an international dimension, it is worth giving this award a higher rank.’
In a statement on the attack yesterday, the Queen mentioned the ‘brave individuals who put their own lives at risk to selflessly help and protect others.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also hailed the ‘extraordinary bravery of those members of the public who physically intervened to protect the lives of others’.
‘For me they represent the very best of our country and I thank them on behalf of all of our country,’ he said.
Jeremy Corbyn will also to pay tribute to their ‘extraordinary bravery’ in a speech in York on Sunday.
‘You are an example to us all; we admire you, and we all give you our very deepest thanks,’ he is expected to say.
The attacker was thought to have had one of the two knives strapped to his arm and had also been wearing a fake explosive device.
In a statement yesterday the Queen praised the ‘brave individuals who put their own lives at risk to selflessly help and protect others’
Emergency: Police surround London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan moments before shooting him dead after he killed two people in a knife rampage on Friday
He was also subdued with a fire extinguisher while another man, later confirmed to be a British Transport Police officer, ran across the road to tackle him.
It has also emerged that another of the men who tackled Khan was convicted murderer James Ford, who strangled 21-year-old Amanda Champion to death in July 2003.
Attacker Khan had been convicted of terrorism offences in 2012 but released from prison on licence in December 2018 and was wearing a tag.
He was part of an al Qaida-inspired terror group that plotted to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
A list of other potential targets included the names and addresses of the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Boris Johnson who was then the Mayor of London, two rabbis, and the US Embassy in London.
The group was also linked to hate preacher Anjem Choudary by a mobile phone seized from an address of one of the plotters.
Usman Khan (left) stabbed Cambridge graduate Jack Merritt (right) and several others in Friday’s knife rampage near London Bridge
In February 2012, Khan was handed an indeterminate sentence for public protection, with a minimum term of eight years.
The sentence he could have been kept in prison for as long he was deemed to be a threat to the public.
Passing judgment at the time, Mr Justice Wilkie said: ‘In my judgment, these offenders would remain, even after a lengthy term of imprisonment, of such a significant risk that the public could not be adequately protected by their being managed on licence in the community, subject to conditions, by reference to a preordained release date.’
However, the sentence was quashed at the Court of Appeal in April 2013 and he was given a determinate 16-year jail term.
Judges including Lord Justice Leveson said at the time when reversing the original sentence that the Parole Board was best placed to decide when he would be safe to be released from jail.
But yesterday the Parole Board released a statement saying that Khan was released automatically after half his sentence and they did not make the decision.