Our walk of death
Girlfriend crossed terror attack bridge with tragic lover a day after she had premonitions of atrocity
THE girlfriend of the first victim of the London Bridge terror atrocity had ‘ premonitions’ of the attack, an inquest heard yesterday.
Christine Delcros’s boyfriend Xavier Thomas, 45, was catapulted into the Thames by the rented Renault van driven by the three Islamic terrorists.
His body was found downstream three days later.
Miss Delcros, 46, sobbed as CCTV images of the French couple walking hand in hand on the bridge were played during the Old Bailey inquest into the deaths of the eight victims of the 2017 attack.
She said they decided to venture out because Mr Thomas – who lived near Paris and worked for American Express – wanted to see the Shard skyscraper.
Miss Delcros – who was badly injured in the attack and now uses a walking stick – told the court: ‘Just before we got to the bridge, I gave no explanation, but I said we shouldn’t go there, we should go somewhere else.
‘He couldn’t understand it and said: “Why are you saying this to me now?” I had so many premonitions about terrorist attacks from the day before, I could feel it, but I didn’t tell him.’
Miss Delcros, who has a daughter from a previous relationship, described seeing a lot of light moments before the van hit them on the first evening of their weekend break. ‘ Without being able to look at Xavier and think about my daughter, I just had time to think to myself, “that’s how one dies”,’ she said.
‘That’s it. I thought that I had died, that the curtain had fallen, to me I was dead. I had my whole head with me but I was no longer in my body.
‘I thought I would never come out of that light, I would stay there for ever. It was only later that I woke up.’
Miss Delcros said it took ‘everything to regain consciousness’ and to remember her name and age. She added: ‘I was in so
‘I thought that I had died’
much pain. I suffered so much. Once I had regained consciousness, I asked for Xavier and immediately I said he might be in the Thames.’
Holly Jones was walking over the bridge when she saw the van veering towards pedestrians. She initially thought it was a drink- driver before realising that people were being targeted. Miss Jones said the driver of the van – Youssef Zaghba – looked ‘angry and demented’.
‘His eyes were very wide and his arms were all over the place,’ she added. ‘It was terrifying to see his face. Immediately, I just froze like I was punched in the chest and I was aware this van was coming towards me. I remember being frozen in fear.
‘Something in my mind told me to get out of the way. I didn’t know how but I jumped out of the way and it went behind me.’
Seconds later, the van hit Miss Delcros and Mr Thomas.
Miss Jones, who rushed to help Miss Delcros, added: ‘I asked what her name was and said she would be OK. She kept saying “where’s my boyfriend, where’s my boyfriend?” And I said I didn’t know.’
A police officer in charge of a patrol boat at the scene said his team had been ‘desperate’ to find anyone who might have fallen from the bridge. PC Nicholas Bultitude said his team covered ‘every inch of that portion of the river’ and if Mr Thomas had been on the surface, he would have been seen.
Zaghba, 22, Khuram Butt, 27, and Rachid Redouane, 30, launched their attack shortly after 10pm on Saturday, June 3, 2017. They killed Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, and Mr Thomas with the van, and fatally stabbed Frenchmen Alexandre Pigeard, 26, and Sebastien Belanger, 36, Australians Sara Zelenak, 21, and Kirsty Boden, 28, Briton James McMullan, 32, and Spaniard Ignacio Echeverria, 39.
The inquest continues.