London Bridge jihadi who used his beard to wipe bloodied knife
THE leader of the london Bridge terrorists calmly wiped his knife on his beard after his gang killed eight victims in three minutes, an inquest heard yesterday.
Wearing an Arsenal football shirt, Khuram Butt was captured on CCTV cleaning the 12-inch pink ceramic knife under a tap behind the bar of a popular restaurant.
In what was described as a ‘chilling gesture’, the 27-year- old wiped the knife on both sides of his beard as he stared intently ahead. One of his two accomplices, Youssef Zaghba, 22, bent down and drank from the tap.
Moments earlier, the fanatics killed two pedestrians with a hired white Renault van before crashing into railings. The terrorists – with knives strapped to their wrists – then smashed their way through a locked door of the Black and Blue restaurant next to Borough Market to attack diners.
There were gasps at the Old Bailey inquest into the eight deaths as the CCTV footage of this part of the terror attack was played.
It showed diner Roy larner, 48, being stabbed at least twice in the stomach by the third terrorist Rachid Redouane, 30. Mr larner survived.
All three terrorists then moved towards the bar where Gavin Joseph and Geoffrey Ho, 42, were standing. Mr Ho, a business journalist, raised his hands and appeared to speak to them.
But the Islamic fanatics ordered the pair to kneel before attacking them. Miraculously, both men survived.
It was at this point that Butt moved towards the tap behind the bar. Jonathan Hough QC said: ‘There you see a chilling gesture – Butt washes his knife and wipes it on his beard.’
The terrorists left the restaurant in search of further victims and were confronted by armed police on the edge of Borough Market. They charged at them, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.
The police opened fire from about three yards, sending all three men – who were wearing fake suicide vests – to the ground. CCTV footage showed Butt staring down the barrel of an officer’s gun seconds before he was shot. Fearing the bomb vests were real, officers shot the men again when at least two of them moved. detective Superintendent Rebecca Riggs said: ‘Officers noticed the attackers... still moving. They believed they were going to activate the explosive devices and they fired a number of shots.’ Neil Mclelland was watching through the window of the Wheatsheaf pub when he was hit in the head by a bullet. He survived, and was one of six bystanders injured by shrapnel. The terrorists launched their attack shortly after 10pm on Saturday, June 3, 2017. They killed Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, and Frenchman xavier Thomas, 45, by driving into them on london Bridge. The inquest heard that Miss Archibald and Mr Thomas would be alive today if barriers had been put up after the Westminster atrocity three months previously. Gareth patterson QC, representing six of the victims, said: ‘There were no barriers in place on that pavement protecting pedestrians from traffic. ‘If there had been barriers, Christine Archibald and xavier Thomas would be with us today.’