London attack: 'I looked terrorist directly in the eye - then he started walking towards us'

Exclusive: ‘In the distance I saw three men walking aggressively down the road with three large knives,’ says Brixton resident

Police were on the scene within minutes of the first call to emergency services

A man has described the moment he looked one of the three London terror attackers in the eye – before the trio began walking towards the bar where he and his friends were hiding.

Callum Stokes-Newens, from Brixton, was sitting in the garden of Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market when the atrocity took place.

The 23-year-old told The Independent that a bouncer told everyone around the bar to “get inside” shortly after 10pm and warned of a man outside the building armed with a knife.

Mr Stokes-Newens said he initially did not realise what was going on and assumed it was “somebody drunk”.

But he said he began to realise the magnitude of the incident when he looked out of the window.

“In the distance I saw three men walking aggressively down the road with three large knives, as people ran for their lives,” he said.

“I believe we may have looked like a target as a lot of people were inside. I looked at one directly in the eye and then they began walking towards us.

“They were carrying 12-inch knives. At this moment I turned to run as the pub was in complete chaos, glasses were being smashed and dropped. Everyone was running up stairs.

“I heard a smash through the window and decided not to look back but to ensure that myself and the people I was with were getting to safety.”

People run for cover after the attack (Twitter) (AP)

He described how people desperately sought refuge in the bar’s toilets.

“The cubicles were packed, with seven roughly in each and I recall a woman severely panicking,” he said.

“I don’t think feelings had set in, initially it was more of a reaction to get away as they approached, the general atmosphere was fearful of what they could do.”

They then heard the sound of gunfire, which unknown to them at the time, was the police killing the suspects.

“The shots echoed through Borough Market right beneath us, I recall hearing 20 shots,” he said.

He explained how the police began to guide people out of the pub following the attack, which left at least seven people dead and 48 injured – 21 of whom were in critical condition.

“The armed police were extremely drilled and shouted for us to escape the building from the front entrance,” he said.

“I looked to my right as I was leaving and there was a man who I believe could have been dead.

“We ran out of the pub with complete trust in the armed police sending masses of crowds out of Borough Market.”