London Bridge terror attack victim was stabbed to death after she fell over in heels

The youngest victim of the London Bridge terror attack had fallen over in high heels seconds before she was stabbed to death, an inquest heard.

Sara Zelenak, 21, was being helped up by British man James McMullan, 32, when they were both killed by terrorists who, moments earlier, had driven into a crowd of people.

The Australian au pair was out with her friend Priscila Goncalves on the evening of June 3, 2017, the inquest into the attack was told.

When the terrorists’ hire van crashed into bridge railings, Sara and Priscila went to have a look before there were shouts of ‘run’.

A witness who filmed the seconds after the van crash said Sara appeared to lose her balance and fell onto the wet pavement.

People were seen screaming and running away as she and James were stabbed, he said.

The inquest was earlier shown CCTV of Sara in blue jeans, a white shirt, leather jacket and black heels.

Witness Erick Siguenza told the Old Bailey: ‘As soon as the van crashed they stepped out and the driver stabbed the woman that had jumped out to get out of the way of the van crashing.

‘That’s when they started stabbing her. I believe there was a gentleman trying to help her get up and he was stabbed as well.

‘As I was recording there was a lot of screaming and just people realising what was going on and just shouting in general.’

Gareth Patterson QC, representing the victims’ families, said: ‘We know Sara was found within minutes at the top of the steps and we know the young white woman with long hair had stab injuries.

‘We also know she was wearing high heels and on the ground it was quite wet that night.

‘From what you saw of this man helping her, did you get the impression she lost her balance?’

Erick said: ‘Yes. She was completely on the ground. He just grabbed her left arm and gently tried to pick her up but by then the attackers were in close proximity and that’s when they started attacking.

‘There was no time for him to be able to help her up because the driver and the other terrorists were already running towards them.’

PC Clint Wallis told the inquest police were ‘desperately in need of paramedics’ as they battled to save victims’ lives.

He arrived on the scene to find Sara still clutching her phone, which flashed with messages as she lay dead.

She had a deep gash in her neck and blood around the groin area of her jeans, PC Wallis said. She showed no signs of life.

Priscila earlier told the inquest she managed to take refuge in a nearby hotel and had been messaging Sara on Facebook to try to find her but never got a response.

PC Wallis said he had been performing CPR on Sara for around 10 minutes along with PC Richard Norton before paramedic Gary Edwards arrived, who said there were ‘limited resources’.

Mr Patterson asked: ‘The paramedic made it plain: “you know what? There’s not enough resources here”.

‘Was it your understanding he was making it plain more resources were needed, more paramedics were needed?’

PC Wallis replied: ‘That’s what I heard. What he meant by that you would have to ask him.’

Mr Patterson asked: ‘Was it your understanding you were desperately in need of paramedics?’

PC Wallis said: ‘Yes.’

The inquest heard there were three paramedics on the scene at around 10.24pm, some 15 minutes after the attack started.

PC Norton said he was trained to treat minor injuries but paramedics had more equipment and were better trained to deal with the kind of injuries Sara had suffered.

He said: ‘We were asking members of the public if they could see paramedics to flag them down and ask them to assist us.

‘It became quite clear that there were no ambulances or paramedics being sent to us and they were probably being held at a rendez vous point away from the scene.’

Sara was stabbed more than once and her helper James – the only British victim – suffered a wound to his chest.

The inquest heard how she and Priscila had gone for a drink around London Bridge and ended up at the London Grind bar.

They both left the bar just after the van crashed into railings, with Priscila seen running away from a crowd without her friend.

She told the court she and Sara were looking to move on and continue their night at a nearby bar when the terror unfolded.

Priscila said: ‘When we were crossing the bridge we saw this bar where there are some tables outside, some red lights.

‘It was really close to the cathedral. We thought it would be a really good idea to go there.’

As they went down steps towards the bar, they heard a ‘crash’ and went back to have a look.

She told the court: ‘She was just next to me when we were going down the stairs and then I heard something and then we went up the stairs to see what happened and people started saying “run” and that’s what we did.

‘It sounded like a crash to me. It sounded like it was something big which is why we went back to take a look.

‘I thought I had seen the van but now I don’t think I had actually. I was just very confused.’

She added: ‘I had no idea what was going on. We were together. People said run. I started to run. I thought she was with me and then I looked, she was not.

‘Everybody was running.’

Sara and James were among eight people killed when Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, launched their van and knife rampage on London Bridge and in Borough Market.

Xavier Thomas, 45, Christine Archibald, 30, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, also died in the atrocity before their attackers were shot dead by armed police.