A jury has concluded that the London Bridge terrorists were lawfully shot dead by police after they ‘ignored clear warning shouts’.
It comes after Old Bailey jurors heard from two police officers how they risked their lives to keep eyes on the London Bridge terrorists despite seeing their blood-stained knives and suicide belts.
PC Sam Balfour, 25, and PC Bartek Tchorzewski, 36, had no way of knowing whether they were about to be blown up when they took the decision to follow the three attackers.
Speaking at the conclusion of the inquest, PC Balfour said he was aware that they could ‘spring out at us at any second’.
Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba. A jury has concluded that the London Bridge terrorists were lawfully shot dead by police after they “ignored clear warning shouts
The graphic above shows the various points in the London Bridge and the surrounding areas which were affected
But by following the killers, they helped warn ‘oblivious’ members of the public and alert armed officers by shouting ‘they’re there, shoot them’.
The friends from Peckham Police Station were just finishing their shift when police received multiple reports of casualties on London Bridge.
Pc Balfour said: ‘We were relatively close. We looked at each other and were like, yeah we need to go to that.
‘I thought we were going to a terrorist incident. Obviously Westminster Bridge was still very much in our memory.’
Having been briefed on terror tactics involving vehicle and knives, they quickly realised the incident ‘ticked every box’, he said.
Pc Tchorzewski said: ‘To be honest we were just thinking about stopping them.
‘Assume the worst and you try to think what you may encounter and what we will do but to be honest nothing can prepare you for that.
‘No briefings… to face something like that in real life, it’s a totally different experience.’
On arriving in Bedale Street, they found a man lying face down with multiple stab injuries being given first aid.
They immediately thought there were more victims out there as people were running away and pointing towards Borough Market.
Pc Tchorzewski said: ‘They were clearly running away from the danger and we just knew it was not a pub fight they were running from. They were clearly afraid.’
‘We were running where they were running from. Just running to Borough Market and almost ran into them’
Describing their first sighting of the attackers, PC Balfour said: ‘They were already stood there, three of them stood in a line holding knives. One of them was raising it above his head.
‘They were shouting at us straight away. I drew my baton and got on the radio to tell everyone where they were.’
PC Tchorzewski noticed a knife covered in blood before the attackers spotted them and started shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.
PC Balfour went on: ‘Someone shouted ‘they’ve got bombs’ so although I do not remember looking at their bomb vests I was very aware that was something they had.’
Paramedics attend injured victims of the London Bridge terror attack in 2017
His colleague added: ‘I was focused on that vest. Then we straight away see he has got a vest or suicide belt with three cylinders attached to it. ‘
‘Just before they started to go towards us there was a brief amount of pause. That kind of second can stretch into eternity.’
Because they did not know whether the suicide vests were real of fakes, they took the initial decision to withdraw.
Balfour said: ‘Up until that point I have been trying to get onto the radio to circulate their location. I knew there was going to be firearms officers coming to Borough Market but they would not see us on Middle Road.
‘My hope was we might be able to flag down firearms officers and point them in the right direction but I was aware going back towards Bedale Street they were running towards us. ‘
PC Balfour turned around ‘expecting to have a fight’ only to find the knifemen had stopped following them, he said.
PC Tchorzewski said it was pointless to wonder what they were thinking because they had been ‘brainwashed’.
In spite of the danger, the pair decided to run after the terrorists and divert them from the public until firearms officers arrived.
The victims of the attack (Top, from left) Christine Archibald, James McMullan, Alexandre Pigeard, Sebastien Belanger, (bottom, from left) Kirsty Boden, Sara Zelenak, Xavier Thomas and Ignacio Echeverria
PC Tchorzewski explained: ‘We are police officers so we have got to do something, at least we have to know where they are.
‘When you feel like your life is in danger you can run fast. If they run towards us with the intention to explode we can run as well.’
PC Balfour added: ‘I was just thinking we needed to circulate where they are. It’s no good not having any eyes on them so we followed them back into the market down Middle Road, not quite sure where they have gone.
‘I was quite aware walking down they could spring out at us at any second.’
PC Tchorzewski described how they ran and ‘sneaked round corners’ as they followed the attackers.
As they reached Stoney Street, they saw a man on his mobile phone completely ‘oblivious’ to the danger and began screaming at him to run away.
‘We started to run towards them. I did not know what we could do, distract them, kick them away, whatever.
‘We saw three ARVs (Armed Response Vehicles) full of armed officers. Then we stepped back. If we jumped on them we are in the line of fire and not helping at all, ‘ PC Tchorzewski said.
PC Balfour said they tried to distract the terrorists by shouting and swearing at them as more members of the public lobbed street furniture at them.
He said: ‘Within a couple of seconds we saw the blue light on the firearms unit coming round the corner. The attacker I was looking at stood up, turned towards that to face off the firearms officer. I remember thinking ‘I’m going to get shot’ because I was stood there perfectly in line.
‘We started to shout ‘that’s them. that’s them’ pointing out those terrorists, ‘shoot them’.
‘There was no time to shout these are terrorists, they may have suicide belts, they have knives, so we have to keep it short, ‘that’s them’.’
Just before they opened fire, PC Balfour dived out of the way and considered himself ‘lucky’ he was not shot or hit by shrapnel.
He said: ‘I remember thinking ‘that’s a close one’. I started shouting at members of the public to stop filming and to get away, get somewhere safe.’
He said it would have been ‘obvious’ to the armed police who the attackers were, not just because they were holding knives but also their ‘demeanour’.
The pair, who were awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, described a ‘sea of blue light’ with victims and walking wounded around the popular tourist spot.
PC Tchorzewski said: ‘You just see victims everywhere and you can see the scale of this attack. Then I walked past the van they used and I saw Molotov cocktails.
‘You don’t become a police officer thinking you may come across a terrorist attack. It’s weird to say the least.’