London Bridge attackers lawfully killed and officers 'acted with courage', inquest findsThe police officers who shot dead the London Bridge terrorists "acted with courage" a judge has said, as it was ruled the jihadists were lawfully killed.
A jury has concluded Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, who killed eight people and injured 48 others, were lawfully shot dead by police.
The Islamist mowed down pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing random members of the public around Borough Market.
They were armed with ceramic knives and had fake suicide belts strapped around their waists during the marauding attack on the evening of June 3, 2017.
The rampage was halted after less than 10 minutes when the attackers confronted three armed police in Stoney Street.
The Old Bailey heard that the officers shouting warnings and opened fire as Butt, Redouane and Zaghba came at them.
In the hail of bullets, a man in the nearby Wheatsheaf pub was hit by a stray round but survived.
Fearing Butt and Redouane could still detonate explosive devices as they lay injured, the police officers shot at them again, jurors were told.
A bomb disposal expert told the court he only realised the suicide belts were fake after he cut them off the dead bodies and held them up.
Jurors deliberated for three-and-a-half hours to conclude that all three attackers were lawfully killed by police after they "ignored clear warning shouts".
Chief coroner Mark Lucraft QC had directed them that was the only "safe" conclusion in the circumstances.
He praised the actions of the armed officers and said nothing less than "lethal force" had been appropriate.
He told jurors: "You may well agree they acted with courage and they only used such force as was necessary."
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