Brave Ignacio was helping policeman, not rescuing woman: “We lied to protect him in case he was still alive,” says Spaniard's family
Brave Ignacio was helping policeman, not rescuing woman: “We lied to protect him in case he was still alive,” says Spaniard's family
LONDON terror attack hero Ignacio Echeverría was not saving a woman's life when he was killed, but was helping a police officer to restrain the killers, the Galicia-born analyst's family reveals.
They admitted they fabricated the story about the woman being stabbed, because they feared that if he was still alive and other terror suspects were involved, they would find out where he lived and cause him harm.
But now he has been repatriated and his funeral is over, father and brother – both called Joaquín – say that according to Ignacio's friends, he saw a policeman trying to hold off the terrorists, got off his bike and went to help.
He beat one of the killers with his skateboard, but was stabbed in the back by another two.
Meanwhile, he still died a hero, as he managed to help the officer hold back the knife-wielding extremists for a whole 40 seconds – long enough for police back-up to arrive.
“Ignacio's friends saw, from a distance, that one of the terrorists was stabbing a woman, but a policeman rushed past them with a truncheon and stopped them,” said Joaquín junior.
“The officer was knocked to the ground in seconds.
“At this point, Ignacio got off his bike and ran to help the officer.
“We think he saw the policeman run towards the terrorists and went to help him pin them down so they would not carry on attacking.
“He wasn't exactly helping the woman directly, but he was trying to stop the attack, though.
“We know he stopped the terrorists for long enough to keep them back. He was fighting with them for about 40 seconds while more police were coming.
“But we spread the story about him rescuing a woman, because we were scared that if the terrorist organisation thought he was helping the police, if he was still alive and they found out where he lived, they would go after him.”
As well as Ignacio, four other people were killed in the Borough Market knife attack and three more on London Bridge, where the terrorists ploughed through pedestrians in a white van before heading to the popular bar and restaurant zone.
According to Scotland Yard, the three killers – who were all shot dead by police at the scene – had attempted to hire a seven-tonne lorry instead of a van, but their credit card payment did not go through.
Sara Zelenak, a 21-year-old au pair from Australia, had narrowly escaped the previous two terror attacks in the UK – she had been walking through Westminster along the bridge just seconds before 52-year-old Adrian Elms, who was later known as Khalid Masood, mowed down four pedestrians, and had bought tickets to the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, although decided not to go in the end – but the third terror attack in two months claimed her life when one of the killers stabbed her in the neck.
Australian nurse Kirsty Boden, 28, rushed in to help the Borough Market victims when she, too, was fatally stabbed in the chest.
Christine Archibald was hit by the van on London Bridge and died in her fiancé's arms.
Brit James McCullan, 32, from Hackney in London, was stabbed in the chest, and his whereabouts were unknown for over four days until he was identified by his fingerprints.
Sebastien Bélanger, 36, from Angers in western France, was having a drink in the Boro Bistro when he was stabbed several times in the chest.
Two other Frenchmen on holiday in London, Alexandre Piegeard and Xavier Thomas, were killed in the crash on London Bridge.
