Grieving relatives hear details of how their loved ones died at inquest into London Bridge attack victims

An armed police officer on patrol on the night of the attack
PA

The inquests of five people who were stabbed to death in the London Bridge terrorist attack were formally opened today.

Coroner Andrew Harris heard details of how five of the eight victims died on June 3 when three terrorists rammed a van into pedestrians London Bridge before going on a stabbing rampage.

However he said he was suspending his investigations until after the police probe into the terror attack had concluded.

"I've considered how my investigation should proceed alongside the police investigation and concluded in light of the extensive police investigation, that I'm going to suspend my investigation into all these deaths to give primacy to the police to conduct theirs", he told Southwark coroner's court.

Borough Market after the attack
Jeremy Selwyn

"All of our thoughts and condolences are with you at this terrible time. It's a quite hard thing for a parent to be in court hearing the details of a death, particularly such a violent one when it is your child."

Julie Wallace, the mother of one of the victims, Sara Julie Zelenak, 21, was in court to hear the inquests being opened, as the coroner briefly outlined how each victim died.

Ms Zelenak, a nanny from Brisbane in Australia, was stabbed in the neck in Borough High Street, the court heard. She was formally identified thanks to her Australian dental records.

A woman at London Bridge in tears as a minute’s silence was observed in the capital and across the country to remember victims
Jeremy Selwyn

James Alexander McMullan, 32, an entrepreneur who lived in Brent, died from a haemorrhage and a chest wound to the chest after being attacked close to the Post Office in Borough High Street.

A third victim from the Borough Market attack, Sebastian Michel Belanger, 36, from Anges in France, was also stabbed in the chest.

Armed police near the scene after the attack
Jeremy Selwyn

Kirsty Louise Boden, 28, a senior staff nurse from Loxton in Australia, was knifed in the chest in Montague Close, close to Southwark Cathedral, having reportedly run towards danger to help those already injured.

The fifth victim was Spanish HSBC banker Ignacio Echeverria Miralles de Imperial, 39, whose body was recovered from London Bridge.

Victims: Ignacio Echeverria Miralles de Imperial, Sara Zelenak and Sebastien Belanger

A representative from the Spanish consulate was in court to represent his family.

The court heard Mr Miralles de Imperial was stabbed in the back and died from multiple knife wounds.

The attackers, Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, were all shot dead by armed police just eight minutes after the first emergency call was made.

However, they were not mentioned during today's hearing.

The inquests of the remaining three victims, Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, and Frenchmen Xavier Thomas, 45, and Alexandre Pigeard, will be formally opened and adjourned tomorrow morning.

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