Police officer who fought London Bridge terrorists says he felt like a cowboy as he took on 'wolfpack'

A police officer who fought off the three knife-wielding London Bridge attackers armed only with his baton has described facing up to the gang like a scene from a Western.

Pc Wayne Marques was repeatedly stabbed and believed he was going to die from his wounds after the desperate struggle to stop Youssef Zaghba, Khuram Butt and Rachid Redouane.

The 38-year-old tried to fend off the attackers after they had blinded him in one eye and said he is still recovering from his injuries after trying to tackle the three jihadists during their rampage through the Borough area of Southwark, the Telegraph reported.

Speaking for the first time since the June 3 attack that killed eight, the British Transport Police Officer said he had only just begun his shift when he heard screams as he patrolled with a colleague near London Bridge Station.

He saw a disturbance where bouncers and customers were queuing to get into a nearby bar and at first thought he was witnessing a pub or gang fight "at the most".

But an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer approached saying he had seen someone stabbed and shortly afterwards Pc Marques himself saw people being attacked on the High Street.

He said: "I remember grabbing my baton with my right hand and I racked [extended] it. I took a deep breath and I just charged the first one [attacker]."

He added: "As I got near him I swung at him with everything I had as hard as I could, straight through his head, trying to go for like a knock-out blow."

His blow made the attacker "yelp in pain", but then found himself surrounded and fighting desperately for around 90 seconds.

During the fight, he was stabbed just above his right eye, and suffering severe wounds to his head, left leg and left hand.

The officer, who has worked with BTP for just under two years and was a PCSO with the Met for around six years beforehand, said a blow to his head plunged him into "instant darkness".

He said: "He'd hit me so hard that my right eye went lights out straight away, I just went blind."

A pink ceramic knife found hung on Khuram Shazad Butt's arm used by Butt in the London Bridge terrorist attack. Photo / via London Police

He said: "The second one and the third one I was basically fighting left to right, because I only had one eye so I'm moving left to right, left to right."

At that point he recalled being stabbed in the leg by the first attacker.

He said: "I'm thinking: 'S***, there's a knife in my leg while I'm fighting the second one and the third one."'

After being stabbed in the hand he said he could remember little except for "swinging [my baton] all over the place".

Seconds later, he recalls the attackers facing him like a scene from a film.

He said: "And the three of them were standing together almost shoulder-to-shoulder in like a little wolf pack and they're staring at me. And that's when I get to size them up.

"The short one that was on the right-hand side, he was the one that I heard saying 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar'. He said it a few times, eyes bulging."

He added: "And I'm basically just like a cowboy western movie waiting for the draw, waiting for them to make their move."

But for some reason, the attackers instead left him to rush off towards Borough Market where they continued their rampage. All three were shot dead by police minutes later.

As his colleague sent a radio message through saying "officer down", Pc Marques told him: "Go get 'em, you've got to go get 'em."

Pc Marques lay on the ground and began to feel a "black cloud" descend as he started to lose consciousness.

He said: "That black cloud starts to come to your vision and starts closing in and closing in and I pretty much knew time was up."

He told a colleague to pass on his last messages to his parents, partner and the rest of his family as he prepared to die.

He said: "That was it. Time was up. It's hard to explain what you kind of think and feel at the time."

His next clear memory was waking up in hospital, feeling a mixture of relief, shock and surprise.

After a number of operations, Pc Marques was discharged from hospital on Friday. He has regained sight in his eye, but cannot walk unaided, struggles to grip with his left hand, and has lost feeling in the right side of his head where nerves were severed.

He said: "Hopefully with the right help and the right care, I'll get my legs back - that will be a great feeling, I am looking forward to getting my legs back definitely."

His family and partner are reluctant for him to return to the streets as a police officer, arguing he has "done enough".

He said: "Am I a hero? I guess in a lot of people's eyes I am but there are still eight people that lost their lives and many more that got wounded.

"By the time I got there some of them were already dead and dying. I couldn't help everybody.

"Being a hero was the last thing I was thinking about. Even fighting terrorists was the last thing I was thinking about. All I was trying to do was keep people alive. That was my job, keep people alive. And that's what I did, that's what I tried to do."

Timeline: How events in London unfolded

• 10.07pm Ambulance services were called to reports of a vehicle ploughing through pedestrians on London Bridge, arriving within six minutes.
• 10.08pm Police are called to the scene. Officers then attended a second incident at nearby Borough Market after reports of stabbings.
• 10.16pm Within eight minutes, three male suspects were shot dead in Borough Market by police marksman. The men were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later found to be hoaxes.
• 12.25am on Sunday Both incidents were declared by the Metropolitan Police as terror attacks.
• 4am Police confirm six people were killed in the rampage.
• 9.30am Seven people have died, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick confirms.