Ingrid Loyau-Kennett: Why I confronted Woolwich attackers

THERE have been calls for a medal for the mother-of-two who dared to confront the two Woolwich assailants in a bid to talk them down.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a 48-year-old cub scout leader from Cornwall, explained how she jumped off a number 53 bus travelling past the carnage in Woolwich yesterday afternoon, assuming there had been an accident and that she could use her first aid skills.

When she saw that the victim had been deliberately butchered in broad daylight, she confronted one of the attackers. He said: "We want to start a war in London tonight" to which she responded: "Right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose, what would you like to do?".

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Loyau-Kennett told the Telegraph the man was wearing a black hat and carrying a revolver, a kitchen knife and "what looked like butcher's tools and he had a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives". He told her to "move off the body".

"I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else", she explained. "He said he [the victim] 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'."

As she waited for the police to arrive, Loyau-Kennett continued talking to the attacker in an attempt to calm him down, before turning to his accomplice, who was wearing a light coat, and asking him to hand over his weapons.

She said: "The other one was much shier 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."