Londoners honoured for showing exceptional bravery in the face of terror

Praised for bravery: Butcher Justin Jones and his girlfriend Ellen Gauntlett
Alex Lentati
Justin Davenport4 December 2017

A butcher who saved the life of a police officer stabbed during the Borough Market attack was among 200 people honoured today for showing “exceptional” courage in the face of terror.

Justin Jones and his girlfriend Ellen Gauntlett, both 24, came across the three armed extremists who had mown down pedestrians on London Bridge during the June atrocity.

Mr Jones, who runs Jones, The Butcher in Herne Hill, said: “We saw a fight going on between a policeman and what turned out to be the three terrorists. I thought I would give him a hand.”

The couple were among 34 members of the public, as well as police and emergency staff, honoured for bravery in the attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.

Londoners flee in the aftermath of the terror attack in Borough Market
PA

They included bouncer Ozzie Gandaa, 33, and friend Ishmerai Muhammad, 21, who charged the terrorists and threw chairs and glasses, stalling them until police arrived.

Mohammed Mahmoud, the imam at the Finsbury Park mosque, who urged calm during the Finsbury Park attack, was also being recognised.

Mr Jones told the Standard of the moment he confronted the assailants. He said: “I cannot remember them saying a word, they looked like they were dressed in black, and all I could see was this pink kitchen knife coming towards me.

"My first thought was, ‘How do I deal with someone with a knife?’. I took a step back but then thought, ‘I can’t just leave someone to get stabbed, and went forward again and they ran away’.”

Police officers with riot shields on Borough High Street
PA Wire/PA Images

British Transport Police officer Wayne Marques, 38, had been fighting the extremists with his baton. He suffered injuries including a stab wound to his right eye, but continued to fight even with a knife sticking out of his leg.

Mr Jones and Ms Gauntlett, 24, then came across injured off-duty Met officer Charlie Guenigault, 25, who had fought the attackers with his bare hands. He had been stabbed in his head, leg, back and stomach.

Mr Jones said: “I found Charlie on the floor and ended up with my hands inside his back plugging his wounds. A policeman gave me tissues and I waited with him until a paramedic turned up.”

Mr Jones, who received a “bit of first aid training” when he was a rugby coach, stayed with the officer despite being told to flee.

He said: “Everyone around us was either a policeman or dying. All the police who were not giving first aid had to move away when the armed police came. Someone told us to go and Ellen and I looked at each other and said, “No, it’s alright, we found him, we will stay with him.”

Ms Gauntlett, a legal secretary, said: “I have blocked a lot of it out — my memories are of all the people who helped. It was a very scary time and it was brilliant to see police and civilians pulling together and helping where they could.”

The couple and the two officers they helped received the Met’s High Commendation, which is rarely awarded.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in