Aysha Frade: Westminster attack victim named as Spanish teacher on way to pick up children from school
The 43-year-old was on her way across Westminster Bridge from work at a nearby college
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Your support makes all the difference.A Spanish teacher on her way to pick up her children from school has been named as one of the victims of the Westminster attack.
Aysha Frade, 43, died of her injuries after a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
Spanish media said Mrs Frade had two daughters aged eight and 11 and worked at the nearby DLD College London.
Rachel Borland, the college's principal, said staff were "deeply shocked and saddened" at news of Mrs Frade's death.
“All our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are with her family," she added. "We will be offering every support we can to them as they try to come to terms with their devastating loss.
“Aysha worked as a member of our administration team at the college. She was highly regarded and loved by our students and by her colleagues. She will be deeply missed by all of us.”
Colleagues and friends were paying tribute to Mrs Frade on social media. "My heart aches for her family," one wrote, while another called her a "wonderful, lovely woman".
“She was a lovely girl – lovely mother, lovely wife, she was just a lovely person with two lovely children,” Patricia Scotland, a family friend, told the BBC.
“They’ve lost their mother…I’m in shock, I can’t believe it.”
Mrs Frade, a British citizen, had familial links to the Spanish municipality of Betanzos, where relatives were notified of her death on Wednesday afternoon.
Her two sisters run an English academy in the area, which suspended classes as news of the tragedy spread, La Vos de Galicia reported.
Mrs Frade was the second victim named following Wednesday’s attack, where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament.
She and another member of the public, a man in his 50s, died of injuries sustained on Westminster Bridge as an attacker sped his car along the pavement.
He crashed it into gates next to the Houses of Parliament before getting out and bursting through the entrance, stabbing PC Palmer before being shot dead at around 2.40pm.
Theresa May praised the bravery of police officers as it was announced that the Houses of Commons and Lords would run as normal on Thursday.
"Any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure,” the Prime Minister said.
"Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal.
"And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city - will get up and go about their day as normal.
"They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives.
"And we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.”
Donald Trump was among world leaders to offer their support as the investigation continues.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, said police believe the suspect was “inspired by international terrorism” but did not name any group.
“Our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, those who were injured and all those affected by this attack,” he added, paying tribute to PC Palmer and his 15 years of service.
“He was someone who left for work expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen.”
Paramedics fought to save both PC Palmer and his attacker on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help.
Armed officers, some in plain clothes and wearing balaclavas, created a large safety cordon around the yard feet from where MPs had earlier attended Prime Minister's Questions and injured victims on Westminster Bridge.
One woman hit by the attacker's car before he reached Parliament was confirmed dead by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital. Others on the bridge suffered “catastrophic injuries”.
Another woman who fell into the Thames was rescued and given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier.
A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, while four students from Edge Hill University were also hurt, and another couple said to have minor injuries.
Romanian and South Korean tourists were among those caught up in the atrocity.
Seven people have been arrested in raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere overnight.