Nurse dubbed ‘Angel Of London Bridge’ killed by knifemen as she tended victim
A woman dubbed the Angel Of London Bridge was killed after rushing in to help a victim of the terror attack, saying: “I’m a nurse. I have to go and help”.
Australian Kirsty Boden, 28, suffered a devastating head wound after going to the aid of Boro Bistro waiter Alexandre Pigeard, 26, on June 3 2017.
She was caught on film bending over the stricken Frenchman on the ground when she was set upon by all three knifemen.
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.
Alexandre Colou said he thought she had tripped when he looked over his shoulder and saw Ms Boden on the floor before he noticed there was “blood everywhere”.
He told the court he knelt down and looked into her eyes to check on her.
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’.”
Ms Boden had been dining in Boro Bistro with two friends, Harriet Mooney and Melanie Schroeder, when the attackers’ van crashed into railings above.
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’.”
At first Ms Schroeder wanted to wait for Ms Boden but then joined the “stampede” as diners fled the restaurant.
She said: “As I was walking back to the Boro Bistro I saw Kirsty lying on the corner.
“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 Saira Khan who gave chest compressions before saying she was gone and there was nothing more they could do, the court heard.
Dr Khan and her friends had also fled the Boro Bistro as people knocked over chairs and tables in a desparate bid to get away.
She found Ms Boden on the ground with her friend saying: “Kirsty, what had they done to you?”
Describing the nurse’s condition, she said: “She was still. There was no movement. She looked like her eyes were open just staring.”
Emergency services were called and the doctor went to get a first aid kit from a police car before she concluded Ms Boden was dead.
Dr Khan said she agreed to carry on CPR after the victim’s friend begged her to continue.
But at 10.23pm, she pronounced Ms Boden dead and went on to help another victim with a stab wound to the neck.
She told the court the situation had been “difficult to overcome without any equipment”.
Gareth Patterson QC, for Ms Boden’s family, said the nurse had got up from her table within seconds of the crash, thinking of others rather than her own safety.
The senior staff nurse at Guy’s Hospital 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.
Ms Boden was one of eight people killed 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 in less than 10 minutes.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2019, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Metropolitan Police / PA Wire.
