Court shown the ‘chilling gesture’ of attacker

A terrorist washed his knife and wiped it on his bear din a“chilling gesture” after killing eight people at London Bridge and Borough Market, an inquest has heard.

Khu ram Butt ,27, was caught on CCTV cameras cleaning his 12 in pink ceramic knife inside Black and Blue restaurant while Youssef Zaghba, 22, took a drink from the tap behind the bar.

Jonathan Hough QC, counsel for the coroner, had warned the families of the victims in court that “distressing images” would be shown, and Butt’s reaction was “the most chilling”.

There were shocked gasps in the Old Bailey as the in quest was shown footage of diner Roy Larner, dubbed the Lion of London Bridge, being stabbed in the stomach. Mr Larner appeared not to react as he was attacked before he stood up and ran away.

In the space of three minutes, the attacker s had struck Xavier Thomas, 45, and Christine Archibald, 30, with a van on the bridge then fatally stabbed Alexand re Pig ea rd ,26, Sara Zelenak, 21, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James Mcmullan, 32, and Ignacio Echeverria , 39, around Borough Market.

Within 10 minutes, the attackers, had been shot dead by police marksmen.