Woolwich murder: Woman tells how she confronted attackers
Cub scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett spoke to one of the men, who was holding
a knife
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A
48-year-old cub scout leader has told how she confronted two men
suspected of brutally murdering a soldier just moments after the attack.
Ingrid Loyau-Kennett said she engaged the men in conversation to prevent them
from attacking others.
She said they were holding "butchers' tools" and told her
they had carried out the attack in Woolwich because British soldiers had killed
Muslims.
Prime Minister David Cameron praised Ms Loyau-Kennett for her "brave" actions.
Two men were shot by police at the scene and are under arrest in hospital.
Police have raided two addresses in connection with the attack - one in
Greenwich, London and one in Saxilby, Lincolnshire.
Ms Loyau-Kennett, who lives in Helston, Cornwall, was on the
number 53 bus heading through Woolwich, south east London on Wednesday
afternoon when she spotted the soldier lying bloodied in the road.'Covered with
blood'
She told the Daily Telegraph she initially thought the man had been injured in
an accident and got off the bus to give first aid.
"Then I saw the guy was dead and I could not feel any pulse," she told the
newspaper.
Ms Loyau-Kennett was travelling on a bus through Woolwich
"And then when I went up, there was this black guy with a
revolver and a kitchen knife, he had what looked like butchers' tools
and he had a little axe and two large knives and he said 'move off the
body'.
Before armed police arrived at the scene, Ms Loyau-Kennett, a mother of two,
said she tried to reason with the killer in an effort to focus his attention
away from other potential victims.
She was photographed by onlookers speaking to one of the men who was holding a
knife.
She told the Telegraph: "So I thought 'OK, I don't know what
is going on here' and he was covered with blood. I thought I had better
start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these
people usually have a message so I said 'what do you want?'
"I asked him if he did it and he said, 'Yes,' and I said,
'Why?' And he said because he has killed Muslim people in Muslim
countries, he said he was a British soldier and I said, 'Really?' and he said,
'I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with
people killing Muslims in Afghanistan, they have nothing to do there.''In full
control'
"I started to talk to him and I started to notice more weapons and the guy
behind him with more weapons as well. By then, people had
started to gather around. So I thought OK, I should keep him talking to
me before he noticed everything around him.
"He was not high, he was not on drugs, he was not an
alcoholic or drunk, he was just distressed, upset. He was in full
control of his decisions and ready to do everything he wanted to do.
"I said, 'Right now it is only you versus many people, you are
going to lose, what would you like to do?' and he said, 'I would like to stay
and fight.'
"The other one was much shyer and I went to him and I said,
'Well, what about you? Would you like to give me what you have in your
hands?' I did not want to say 'weapons', but I thought it was better
having them aimed on one person like me rather than everybody there,
children were starting to leave school as well."
In a statement outside Downing Street, David Cameron
highlighted the actions of Ms Loyau-Kennett as demonstrating that
"confronting extremism is a job for us all".
He said: "When told by the attacker he wanted to start a war
in London, she replied, 'You're going to lose. It is only you versus
many.' She spoke for us all."
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