I stared into the killer’s eyes and expected to die

BUSINESSMAN Marco Paini feared he was going to be blown up as he stared into the eyes of one of the London Bridge killers.

Marco, 43, was inside Elliott’s in Borough Market with his wife and friends when their Saturday night turned to terror.

Two terrorists burst into the restaurant and attacked a diner and Australian waitress Candice Hedge with huge knives.

Marco saw the men’s suicide vests – which turned out to be fakes – and believed one of them was about to detonate his explosives.

He said: “I thought that was it, I thought our lives were over. I looked into his eyes and thought he was going to pull the pin.

“I believed he was going to blow us up. But then they just ran off.”

Marco was enjoying a meal with wife Billur, 35, and another couple when the attack took place.

He said: “It started out as just another typical Saturday night. We were eating inside and having a good time.

“There had been a shower about half an hour earlier and people eating outside had rushed in.

“When they ran in again, I assumed the same thing had happened, but they were shouting about knives.

“I thought it was maybe a fight outside, but the look on the peoples’ faces made it clear it was something else. They looked scared.

“We jumped up from our table and went towards the back of the restaurant with other customers.

“One poor guy headed for the exit and was stabbed in the back.

“Our waitress was stabbed in the neck. Her throat was slashed. I remember the amount of blood, it was everywhere.

“It all happened really quickly. The two guys came inside waving the knives and shouting something about Allah.”

A diner in the Black & Blue steakhouse said: “Three guys came in, stabbed someone in the face and someone in the stomach.”

Lewis Bennett, from Waterloo, said he saw one of the terrorists with a knife “dripping with blood”.

He said: “It was about a foot long and curved, like a pirate’s knife. He was Middle Eastern-looking but had a British accent.”

Another witness said he feared he was going to die as he hid inside a restaurant toilet with other diners – including a pregnant woman.

The man, who gave his name as Gareth, said: “It’s the first time in my life that I got the feeling that it’s absolute game over.

“We had to keep deadly silent. We thought we were going to get gunned down through the door.”

Customers in several pubs were forced to leave with their hands on their heads as police hunted possible accomplices.

The rampage began with a rented van careering into pedestrians on London Bridge shortly before 10pm, sending them flying.