Westminster attack: Inquest hears how tourist pushed his wife out of way before being hit by terrorist's car
'It was chaos. It was just chaos. People were trying to get out of the way but nobody really had a chance'
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The first victim of the Westminster terror attack was two-and-a-half hours in to a trip to London with his wife to celebrate their anniversary when he was mowed down and killed, an Old Bailey inquest has heard.
American tourist Kurt Cochran and his wife Melissa were visiting London from the US as part of a trip around Europe when Khalid Masood rammed his rented Hyundai Tucson into them.
CCTV footage showed Cochran pushing his wife out of the path of the onrushing car, before being sent flying over the balustrade and on to the embankment below, the inquest was told.
He suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead 17 minutes after a paramedic arrived.
In the space of 82 seconds Masood, 52, knocked down and killed Cochran, Leslie Rhodes, 75, Aysha Frade, 44, and Andreea Cristea, 31, before stabbing PC Keith Palmer to death at the gates to the Palace of Westminster.
Masood’s killing spree only ended when he was shot dead by a plain-clothes officer.
Giving evidence, Ms Cochran told how she and her husband had visited a number of tourist attractions on the day of the attack, ending up at Westminster Abbey.
She remembered looking to her right on the bridge with her husband on the left as a car approached, she said.
“My next recollection, after I read some of the witness statements, I remember seeing the front of a car revving,” she said.
“I remember seeing the front of the vehicle. The next thing I remember, being on the ground.”
Police say the attack began at 2.40pm, when Masood’s vehicle mounted the kerb on Westminster Bridge, travelling at an average speed of 31mph.
Ms Cochran was badly injured in the attack and spent about a month in hospital afterwards.
She continued: “We were just spending the entire day seeing everything we could see.
“We had one day in London so we were cramming everything in we could.
“We had two-and-a-half hours in London before the attack.”
Gareth Patterson QC, representing three of the victims, asked: “Kurt’s right arm went out.
“Do you remember when he reached across and then pushed you out of the way?”
Ms Cochran said she had no memory of it, but added that it was typical of her husband.
Kylie Smith, a teacher who was accompanying a group of teenage children, said Masood had deliberately targeted Mr Cochran as he stood by a souvenir stand on the bridge.
“It was very clearly a deliberate act. The way he turned the car to change the direction,” she told the inquest.
“There was a couple walking hand-in-hand who I had previously been watching across the bridge, walking along having a nice time.
“The car came towards them. The man tried to pull his girlfriend behind him, tried to shield her from the impact.
“The man went over the car and just flew up in the air.
“It was chaos. It was just chaos. People were trying to get out of the way but nobody really had a chance.”
Neil Hulbert and his nephew had been strolling along the South Bank after a trip on the London Eye when they heard an “almighty crash”.
Mr Hulbert described Mr Cochran “flying through the air” over the balustrade of Westminster Bridge, landing two or three metres away from him.
A preliminary hearing in January heard Masood had taken steroids before he launched the rampage.
An inquest into his death will be held separately from those of his victims at a later date.
Press Association contributed to this report