Acting Met Police chief saw Westminster attacker stab officer to death from inside locked car, inquest hears

Sir Craig Mackey tells inquest he had no protective equipment or radio during atrocity outside Houses of Parliament

The acting head of the Metropolitan Police locked himself in a car as one of his officers was murdered metres away during the Westminster attack, an inquest has heard.

Sir Craig Mackey was commissioner of Britain’s largest force at the time of the atrocity, where Khalid Masood ran down four victims with his car and stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death.

An inquest into Masood’s death heard that Sir Craig was being driven out of the Houses of Parliament when the attack started on 22 March 2017.

The senior officer, who is now deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had been to a meeting with the policing minister and recalled being in his “shirt sleeves”.

Sir Craig told the Old Bailey he heard an “abnormally loud bang” that he feared was an explosion before seeing Masood start attacking PC Palmer.

The 52-year-old had crashed his car into railings surrounding parliament after killing four victims with his car on Westminster Bridge, then charged through Carriage Gates armed with two large knives.

“There was quite a lot of confusion about what was going on,” Sir Craig said. “The way that the male came in and the purposeful way he in came, that was a clear threat.”

He recalled locking the doors of his chauffeur-driven car, where neither of the two other people inside had stab vests, any other equipment or a radio to communicate with officers about what was happening.

“A colleague in the car had clearly seen what had gone on as well, and I locked the door,” he added. “I’ve got no protective equipment, no radio … we were in a ministerial meeting and literally came out to that.”

From the car’s passenger seat Sir Craig described seeing “two determined stab wounds”, adding: “I could see PC Palmer moving backwards and him going down.”

Sir Craig, who is to retire in December, said: “The attacker had one of those looks where, if they get you in that look, they would be after you.

“He seemed absolutely focused on getting further down and attacking anyone who was in his way.”

The officer said the two other people in the car were not police officers and “if anyone had got out, the way Masood was looking, anyone who got in his way would have been a target”.

Sir Craig added: “I think anyone who came up against that individual would have faced serious, serious injury, if not death.”

He described seeing two plain-clothed protection officers running past his vehicle with their handguns drawn, before shots rang out seconds later.

After hearing the gunshots, Sir Craig said he “went to open the door to get out”.

“One of the PCs, quite rightfully, said: ‘Get out, make safe, go, shut the door,’ which he did, and it was the right thing to do,” he continued.

“That’s when I thought: ‘I have got to start putting everything we need in place. We have got no protective equipment, no radio, I have got two colleagues with me who are quite distressed,’ so we moved out.”

Sir Craig was then driven away and started coordinating the response to the attack, which was initially feared to involve multiple terrorists.

PC Palmer died at the scene after undergoing emergency surgery and first-aid from paramedics and bystanders, including defence minister Tobias Ellwood. Masood was pronounced dead in hospital later that afternoon.

From the moment Masood ploughed his car into pedestrians to him being shot dead, the atrocity lasted 82 seconds.

“The thing that still shakes me about the attack is that it was 80-plus seconds in total,” Sir Craig said. “It didn’t feel like that, it felt an awfully long time.”

The court was shown footage of Masood, with two bloodied knives, following unarmed officers as they fled following the attack on PC Palmer.

Two plain-clothed close protection officers could be seen aiming their pistols before he crumpled to the ground.

Temporary Chief Inspector Paul Sheridan, an expert in training firearms officers, told the court the use of lethal force by the marksman who shot Masood three times was “entirely justified”.

A jury is considering the circumstances of Masood’s death, after separate inquests into those of his victims found that PC Palmer’s murder may have been prevented if the Metropolitan Police had stationed armed police on gates to the Houses of Parliament.

The popular officer, who had a wife and five-year-old daughter, was posthumously awarded the George Medal and several other accolades for bravery following a full police funeral.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC, the chief coroner of England and Wales, found that he and the four people killed on Westminster Bridge – American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, Aysha Frade, 44, and Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea, 31 – were unlawfully killed and 29 other people were seriously injured.

The inquest was adjourned until Wednesday, when the two close protection officers who responded to the attack will give evidence.

The jury will also hear details of the medical attention given to Masood and the terrorist’s background, planning and preparation for the attack.

Additional reporting by PA