Queen backs early release for killer who fought jihadi
Hero took on London Bridge fanatic with narwhal tusk
A MURDERER who fought the London Bridge terrorist after arming himself with a narwhal tusk is set to have his sentence cut after an intervention from the Queen.
Steven Gallant, 42, had been on day release at a rehabilitation event in Fishmongers’ Hall when fellow attendee Usman Khan launched a knife rampage which left Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, dead.
The Royal Prerogative of Mercy granted by Her Majesty following advice from Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland is thought to be the first for a jailed murderer.
It means that Mr Gallant’s case will be brought before the parole board ten months early and his freedom could be confirmed by next June. Gallant was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years in 2005 for the murder of fireman Barrie Jackson, 33, in Hull.
The news has been welcomed by Mr Jackson’s 21-year-old son Jack.
It was Gallant’s first time out on licence at the Learning Together scheme where Khan, 28, who was wearing a fake suicide vest and brandishing two knives, launched his attack. Gallant was handed the ornamental five-foot tusk from a wall by a civil servant to use as a weapon and chased the convicted terrorist on to the bridge, where he was shot dead by police.
He later said he ‘did not hesitate’ to confront Khan, who had been jailed in 2012 over plans to bomb the London Stock Exchange. ‘I could tell something was wrong and had to help,’ he said. ‘Khan was stood in the foyer with two large knives in his hands. He was a clear danger to all.’
Gallant and a friend had battered Mr Jackson to death with a hammer outside a pub because they believed he had attacked Gallant’s girlfriend. The previous year Mr Jackson had himself been convicted of assaulting a 64-year-old woman. His son Jack, a student, said he had mixed emotions but he was satisfied with the decision. He told the Sunday Mirror: ‘Gallant has nearly done his time and if someone has undergone rehabilitation and change, which it seems he has, then it’s fair enough.’
Gallant had become friends with Mr Merritt who had been mentoring him through Learning Together since 2016.
He is said to have been a model prisoner and has been studying for a business degree while inside.
Mr Merritt’s father David, 55, from Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, said: ‘Steve fully deserves this pardon, or reduction in sentence. It is fantastic. He was very close to Jack and he turned his life around and reformed.’
A spokesman from the Ministry of Justice confirmed Gallant’s hearing would be brought forward, but the ultimate decision rests with the parole board.