London Bridge attack victim’s battle to take dead terrorists’ cash
A VICTIM of the London Bridge terrorist atrocity in June 2017 is suing the estate of two of the attackers.
Peter Lunt, 44, was left with brain damage when three extremists ploughed a hired 2.5-ton Renault van into crowds on the bridge before going on a deadly knife rampage through Borough Market in South London.
Mr Lunt, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, required several operations and eight months of hospital treatment. He is also suing Probus, the insurers of the firm that hired out the van to the terrorists, as are several other victims.
The carnage began when Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, careered into tourists, pub-goers and diners out to enjoy a Saturday evening.
The pro-Islamic State gang, all wearing fake suicide vests, were shot dead by armed police within minutes, but by then had murdered eight people and left 48 more victims injured.
In a claim submitted to the High Court, Mr Lunt is suing the estates of the gang’s ringleader Butt and Zaghba.
He and his wife, Tanya, 46, had come to London for a weekend break and had earlier watched a comedy show at a nearby pub.
They were walking back to their hotel at 9.30pm when the van smashed into them. Mrs Lunt suffered minor injuries, but her husband was seriously hurt.
During her evidence at the London
Bridge inquests, Mrs Lunt said: ‘I could hear people screaming and shouting and then shouting, “Run, run, there’s a van.”
‘I think Pete shouted at me, “Run, we’ve got to run,” and we turned back to run in the direction of the Shard. I had a feeling it was a terrorist attack.
‘I was pushed, hit and then everything went black. I couldn’t see anything, just feel cold metal. I looked for Peter and I could see him lying in the road.’
Mr Lunt is being represented by Thompsons Solicitors, which last night declined to comment.
The Unite union is also providing Mr Lunt with support .
In May, a number of victims and the relatives of some of those who died in the terror atrocity received undisclosed compensation sums from Probus.