Angel Of London Bridge attacked by all three knifemen as she rushed to help victim

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia

A nurse dubbed the 'Angel of London Bridge' was stabbed in the head as she tended to a victim during the terrorist attacks, an inquest has heard.

Australian Kirsty Boden, 28, had rushed to the aid of Boro Bistro waiter Alexandre Pigeard after telling her friends: “I’m a nurse. I have to go and help.”

She was captured on mobile phone footage bending over the stricken 26-year-old Frenchman on the ground when she was set upon by all three knifemen.

The London Bridge attackers responsible for eight deaths.

The Old Bailey heard how Khuram Butt, 27, appeared to make a stabbing motion before Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, also moved in.

The tip of Butt’s 12-inch pink ceramic blade was later found embedded in Ms Boden’s head.

CCTV footage showed her clearly injured as she fled the carnage before she collapsed.

Ms Boden had been dining in the restaurant with two friends, Harriet Mooney and Melanie Schroeder, when the attackers’ van crashed into railings above on June 3 2017.

She leapt up to help casualties of the debris which had rained down on outside tables.

Waiter Alexandre Pigeard was tended to by Ms Boden before they both died in the attack. Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA

In a statement read to court, Ms Schroeder said: “Kirsty jumped up and said ‘I’m a nurse. I have to go and help. I need to see if they need help’.

“Kirsty headed off and I thought nothing of it.

“The next thing I remember was hearing screaming and thinking to myself ‘calm the f* down it’s just a crash’.

“Harriet was saying we needed to leave, we needed to go.

“I was saying 'we can’t, we need to wait for Kirsty'.”

Ms Schroeder said they ran away with other diners and she came across Ms Boden’s body on the ground as she returned.

She said: “As I was walking back to the Boro Bistro, I saw Kirsty lying on the corner.

The victims of the atrocity at London Bridge. Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA

“I recognised the person lying in the floor as Kirsty because of her bright pink cardigan.

“I screamed ‘Kirsty’ and ran down the alleyway.”

Ms Boden had suffered stab wounds and was alive but unable to speak, she said.

Ms Schroeder helped with first aid along with a GP who gave chest compressions before saying she was gone and there was nothing more they could do, the court heard.

Witness Alexandre Colou looked over his shoulder and saw Ms Boden falling down as crowds of people fled the attackers.

He told the court he thought she had tripped before he saw “blood everywhere”.

Ms Boden was one of eight victims in the London Bridge terror attacks. Credit: PA

He said: “Her eyes were moving wildly.

“She had difficulties breathing. I was talking to her and then her eyes stopped moving.

“I said ‘stay awake, stay awake, stay with me’.”

Gareth Patterson QC, for her family, said Ms Boden got up within seconds of the crash, thinking of others rather than her own safety.

The senior Guy’s Hospital nurse was “right there in the thick of it” when she tried to help Mr Pigeard.

Mr Patterson said the tip of Butt’s knife was found embedded in Ms Boden’s head, most likely from the blow caught on CCTV.

A vigil was held near London Bridge a few days after the terror attack. Credit: PA

The inquest also heard from British Transport police officer Wayne Marques, who said the three attackers set upon him "like a wolfpack".

Armed only with a baton, he was repeatedly stabbed by the killers after coming to the aid of three injured people.

He said: "One of the things that stood out to me was the quite cold and calculating way they went about things. They were attacking almost like in a formation.

Wayne Marques (right) gave evidence on the London Bridge terror attack today.

"My job at that stage was to hold on and keep them fighting until the cavalry arrived."

The officer suffered nine injures, including eight knife wounds, but has since returned to work and received the George Medal.

Eight people were killed, and many more were injured when three terrorists mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge and ran amok around Borough Market.

Xavier Thomas, 45, Christine Archibald, 30, Mr Pigeard, 26, Sara Zelenak, 21, Ms Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, all died in the atrocity.

Their attackers were shot dead near Borough Market less than 10 minutes after the attack began.