Killer who tackled London Bridge terrorist has been pardoned by the Queen
A KILLER turned hero who risked his life in the London Bridge attack by tackling a terrorist with a whale tusk has been pardoned by the Queen.
Steven Gallant had been on day release when he put his life on the line to stop terror nut Usman Khan in his tracks before cops arrived and shot the jihadist dead.
He armed himself with a narwhal tusk, which had been mounted on the wall of nearby Fisherman’s Hall, then ran after the madman and saved scores of lives on November 29 last year.
The decision to pardon a jailed murderer is unprecedented.
Gallant, 42, will now have 10 months knocked off his 17-year sentence after being sent down in 2005.
His bid for freedom could be rubber-stamped as early as next June when he goes before the Parole Board.
The Ministry of Justice told the Sunday Mirror the decision had been taken because of Gallant’s “exceptionally brave actions.”
Gallant was thrown behind bars for battering firefighter Barrie Jackson to death outside a pub.
Jack Jackson, 21, the victim’s son, said: “I have mixed emotions – but what happened at London Bridge goes to show the reality that people can change.”
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The crazed terror nut killed Gallant’s pal and prison mentor Jack Merritt, 25, as they were all in a conference in the Fishmongers Hall next to London Bridge.
Jack’s father David, 55, of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, said: “Steve fully deserves this pardon, or reduction in sentence. It is fantastic.”
Khan killed two people – Cambridge University’s Learning Together prison-rehabilitation – workers Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23 – and injured three others.
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