Fishmongers’ Hall survivor ‘played dead’ during terror attack, inquest told
A survivor of the Fishmongers’ Hall terror attack has told how she “played dead” after Usman Khan stabbed her repeatedly and tried to “finish” her.
Convicted terrorist Khan, 28, killed Cambridge University graduates Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, from Cottenham, on the afternoon of November 29, 2019.
He injured three more people during a five-minute rampage at a Learning Together event before being shot dead by police on London Bridge.
Isobel Rowbotham worked part-time as an office manager for Learning Together, an organisation dedicated to the education of prisoners.
Giving evidence at Guildhall in the City of London, Ms Rowbotham, a student at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said she had been in the foyer when Mr Merritt emerged covered in blood.
She said: “He was shouting that he had been stabbed. He was holding his stomach and had obviously been injured.
“I looked around to my left and then I saw Usman (Khan) coming towards me with knives in his hands.”
Ms Rowbotham said he was a few metres away, holding two big kitchen knives and moving “purposefully”.
“I knew who it was and said ‘No, Usman, please don’t’.
“He was not going to stop. I turned to my left and just tried to hunch and protect myself.”
When he stabbed her repeatedly it felt like being punched, she told jurors.
“I remember his final stabs were in my neck as if they were intending to finish me.
“I was on the floor and had closed my eyes but could still hear.
“I decided to play dead just in case he came back again. I tried to slow down my breathing and blood flow as much as possible.”
Later, she tried to call emergency services on her phone but there was “too much blood to press on the screen”, she said.
Ms Rowbotham was given first aid before being taken to hospital, the court heard.
Housekeeping supervisor Ama Otchere came across Khan coming out of the men’s toilet with “anger in his face” after he had stabbed Mr Merritt.
As she backed away, he put his finger to his lips as if to tell her not to scream, the court heard.
Describing the attack on Ms Jones, Ms Otchere said: “As soon as he saw the lady came to the cloakroom he used the knife to stab the lady’s shoulder.
“The lady was screaming and I just ran from the scene.”
The witness said she believed Khan was reciting from the Koran in Arabic.
Learning Together research associate Simon Larmour met Khan in March 2019 following his release from prison and followed up with phone calls.
Initially, Khan was “quite neurotic” and focused on his time in prison but went on to discuss writing and trying to visit his family during later conversations, the court heard.
The witness said: “He was quite a neurotic character as a baseline, very energetic.”
In a call the week before the attack, Khan seemed “a bit off”, jurors were told.
Mr Larmour said: “It was very short, normally he likes to talk a lot. It did seem like he wanted to get off the line as quickly as possible. He seemed a bit off.”
Mr Larmour said he discussed the call with a colleague, telling her Khan had seemed “a bit weird and depressed”.
On the morning of November 29, Mr Larmour had met Khan at Euston Station and escorted him to Fishmongers’ Hall.
Earlier, Khan called him “panicking” that his train to London was cancelled and Mr Merritt had stepped in to help find another one, the court heard.
Describing the attack that afternoon, Mr Larmour, who had found out about Khan’s conviction for preparing terrorist acts on a Google search, said he heard screams.
Mr Merritt walked towards him with blood on his shirt saying: “I just got stabbed”, the court heard.
Mr Larmour dropped his phone, jumped over a table and went into a reception area where he tended to Mr Merritt, the court heard.
The inquest into the victims’ deaths was adjourned until Thursday.
Read more:
Jack Merritt’s mother pays tearful tribute as London Bridge terror attack inquest begins
Queen cuts sentence for murderer who used narwhal tusk to stop London Bridge attacker Usman Khan
Cambridge falls silent in memory of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones
