The three men behind the London Bridge terrorist attack carried out a “dry run” across the bridge minutes before their deadly assault.
The white Renault van hired by the killers was first captured on CCTV driving on to the bridge from the north side at 9.58pm on Saturday — some nine minutes before the attack began.
The van drove slowly across London Bridge towards Borough High Street, attracting no suspicion, before turning and making its way back northwards. Somewhere near Monument, in the City of London, it made further turns to face back towards its target.
Sources have described the van as “manoeuvring” and detectives investigating the attack are trying to establish what its occupants were doing.
Police are also examining what appear to have been petrol bombs after several wine bottles filled with liquid and rags were discovered in the back of the van used by the attackers.
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The killers may have been conducting a last-minute reconnaissance exercise before deciding whether the time was right to launch their attack.
That “dry run” is thought to have involved checking the amount of traffic in the area, the number of potential victims they could hit and, most importantly, whether there was a police presence that might thwart their plan.
With the attackers satisfied that the conditions were suitable, the van reappeared at the north end of the bridge about 10.06pm and suddenly accelerated before swerving violently on to the eastern pavement.
The vehicle hit a number of pedestrians before lurching back on to the road. The first witnesses were already dialling 999 and asking to be connected to the ambulance service, which logged its first emergency call at 10.07pm.
By then the van was being driven back on to the pavement, crashing into more pedestrians. At 10.08pm the Metropolitan Police recorded the first of more than 100 emergency calls as terrified witnesses variously reported a road accident, people being stabbed, three knifemen roaming the streets and shots being fired.
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The Renault van veered wildly, crossing the central reservation and crashing to a halt against a barrier next to a pub. The driver’s door and a sliding side door were wrenched open and three men wearing fake suicide vests and carrying long-bladed knives jumped out, running down alleyways into Borough Market, where thousands of people were enjoying a night out.
A British Transport Police officer was among the first people to confront the gang. The officer, who had not served the two years required to complete Taser training, was armed only with a baton as he tackled the killers.
Friends of the officer said that he had suffered life-altering injuries but would survive. Three Met officers were also injured with one, who was off duty, still in a serious condition after rugby-tackling one of the attackers. A plain-clothes officer needed stitches to a head injury and a uniformed officer suffered an arm injury.
The terrorists forced their way into bars and restaurants, including Boro Bistro, where one killer jumped from a terrace, crashing through a parasol at an outdoor table and slashing wildly with his knife. A 27-year-old Frenchman who died is believed to have been working at the restaurant, where staff had only recently been trained in what to do in a terrorist attack.
Le Télégramme, a newspaper in Brittany, reported Vincent Le Berre, the bistro’s manager, saying that he came “face to face with the terrorist — I saw the hatred in his eyes”.
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Police firearms officers were now in the area, and by 10.16pm they had shot the men dead. The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is obliged to inquire into all police shootings, said that no individual officers were under investigation.