'HE'S NO HERO'
London Bridge attack – Fury as family find out killer was on day release when they saw him on TV tackling terrorist
THE family of one of the London Bridge have-a-go-heroes are furious that the killer was allowed out of prison without their knowledge - and that he's being hailed a hero.
James Ford, 42, murdered a disabled 21-year-old in 2004, but stepped in to protect a woman at Fishmongers' Hall after terrorist, Usman Khan, began his rampage yesterday.
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revealed that the family of Ford's victim, Amanda Champion, 21, were furious after they received a call from a liaison officer telling them Amanda's killer was on TV - and was being hailed as a hero.
Ford murdered Amanda in an unprovoked attack after bumping into her in an area of woodland.
Her family are said to have tried to stop Ford being released on parole and only found out he was free when police called them yesterday.
Sentencing Ford at the time, a judge told him: "You clearly have an interest in the macabre and also an obsession with death."
The killer had strangled Amanda - who was disabled and had the mental age of a 15-year-old - before slitting her throat and leaving her to die.
'HE IS NOT A HERO'
Amanda's aunt, 65-year-old Angela Cox said: "He is not a hero. He is a murderer out on day release, which us as a family didn't know anything about. He murdered a disabled girl. He is not a hero, absolutely not.
"For him to be called a hero – he is not, he is a cold-blooded murderer.
"For no reason whatsoever, he just went out and murdered a disabled person. I don't care what he's done today, he's a murderer. He is scum. Amanda was my niece and she was vulnerable and he took her life. He knew what he was doing. People don't change."
The devastated Cox family only found out their beloved Amanda's killer was splashed across the nation's TV channels after they received a call from a liaison officer.
Angela said she was "so angry" her niece's killer had been let out without the family's knowledge.
She added: "Any of my family could have been in London and just bumped into him."
HAVE-A-GO-HEROES
Yesterday, several members of the public stepped in to wrestle Islamic extremist Khan to the floor after he brandished a knife at Fishmonger's Hall in a terrorist attack.
Khan had also donned a hoax suicide vest and allegedly screamed: "I have a bomb."
The extremist is thought to have slashed five people, with two tragically losing their lives in the attack.
Dramatic high definition video shows brave bystanders tackling a man in a fake suicide vest moments after two innocent people died in Friday's stabbing rampage.
The terrifying clip then shows armed cops surrounding the suspect and shooting him dead as terror struck in the heart of the capital.
Khan, 28, had been a guest at a Fishmongers' Hall prisoner rehabilitation event when he launched his knife rampage.
Police said Khan, who lived in the Staffordshire area, was known to authorities after he was convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences.
He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence.
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A group of men accosted the 28-year-old terrorist, with one man brandishing a 5ft narwhal tusk and another a fire extinguisher.
Khan was shot dead at the scene by armed cops after he revealed he was wearing a suicide vest - which has since been identified as a hoax bomb.
However, none of the heroes knew the bomb threat was a fake when they stepped in.
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