Inquest views grisly footage of London terrorist attack
Relatives of victims gather to find answers to questions about potential security failures behind incident near Parliament
A British-born terrorist mowed down pedestrians like “human bowling pins” outside the UK Parliament during 82 seconds of chaotic violence captured by video cameras and screened in a British court for the first time yesterday.
The graphic footage shows victims of the attack being tossed into the air like “rag dolls” and dragged along by the car. It was viewed on the first day of an inquest that heard tales of courage and sacrifice.
The car, driven by extremist Khalid Masood, can be seen weaving on to and off the pavement, deliberately targeting pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge in central London in March last year. The footage shows a Romanian woman being struck and thrown into the River Thames by the force of the impact. She later died in hospital.
Masood crashed the car before running towards the parliamentary estate, carrying a knife in each hand. He confronted policeman Keith Palmer and stabbed him to death before being shot dead by police.
The attack was the first of five in Britain last year, all but one of them linked to extremism.
The inquest will seek to answer questions about what the authorities knew about the threat posed by Masood, the level of security at one of the UK’s most significant landmarks and why the officer was on his own to confront the attacker.
The inquest started with a minute’s silence for the victims and pen portraits of the five people killed by Masood.
“The lives of many were torn apart by 82 seconds of high and terrible drama,” said chief coroner Mark Lucraft.
Masood used a hire car to strike US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, Aysha Frade, 44, and Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea, 32, on the bridge.
Some families of the victims were present at London’s Old Bailey to watch the footage and pay tribute to the victims.
Melissa Cochran, who was seriously injured during the attack, praised her husband Kurt’s “heroic actions” in a statement read out by her sister, Angela Stoll.
Mr Cochran pushed his wife away from the impact, taking the brunt himself, in the seconds before Masood’s car struck them.
The inquest is expected to last six weeks.
Relatives of victims killed in the attacks said their lives would never be the same again