Stop forgetting terror hero is a killer too, says victim’s widow

THE widow of a firefighter murdered by a man who tackled the London Bridge terror attacker said yesterday: “They made him a hero and forgot about his victims.”

Vicky Foster spoke out after Steven Gallant was granted a Royal Pardon allowing him to apply for early release from his life sentence.

Gallant, 42, was at a rehabilitation event at Fishmongers’ Hall when convicted terrorist Usman

Khan killed two people with kitchen knives.

Grabbing weapons including a narwhal tusk, the ex- prisoners chased Khan on to the bridge where they wrestled him to the ground. Khan was then shot dead.

Vicky said: “Heroes aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. Turning your life around is an amazingly brave, heroic thing to do, and if Steven Gallant has done that, he deserves respect.

“But five minutes on London Bridge would not be proof.”

Gallant and another man were jailed for life for battering dad- oftwo Barrie Jackson, 30, to death in Hull in April 2005. He suffered a fractured skull, after being hit with a hammer and stamped on.

As she watched news reports of the November 2019 terror attack, Vicky had no idea one of the heroes was the man who killed her husband. She said: “It appeared to be a clear- cut case of good triumphing over evil; a physical, decisive, spur- of- themoment act that saved lives. A light in the middle of a tragic event. A video to share on social media, show to your friends and then forget about.

“That’s exactly what I did, but then in January this year word came to me that the hero I’d admired was actually one of the men who murdered the father of my children.”

Gallant’s role in helping to stop Khan emerged as Vicky was shortlisted for an award after writing a drama on the impact the murder had on her family.

She said: “When extreme violence enters your life, everything you think you know is shattered. My children and myself have been hugely impacted by the coverage of Steven Gallant in the news.

“Gallant helped save lives on London Bridge, but he has also caused lifelong damage to me and my family.”

Two years before he died, Barrie was cleared of the attempted murder of a woman. Vicky was distressed by social media trolls who said he deserved to die. She said: “I find it difficult to understand how one violent man can be held up as an example of what rehabilitation can do, while it’s suggested another deserved to meet with the brutal murder that man committed.”

Slain... Barrie Jackson and his widow Vicky