Back on duty: hero cop stabbed in the head while taking on London Bridge terrorists

A hero police officer who was stabbed in the head as he fought off the three London Bridge terrorists with his baton today revealed he plans to return to work within weeks.

Wayne Marques, 38, was temporarily blinded in one eye and suffered several other major knife wounds after being stabbed by the attackers during the assault last year.

He has been in rehab since the attack but today revealed he hopes to return to work next month.

Ahead of Sunday’s anniversary of the atrocity, he told the Standard: “I’m doing well. The intention is for me to come back to work in July. Which is good because I do know the longer you are out, the harder it can be to get back in.

Londoners flee on the night of the attack last June
AP

"And it’s a job that I enjoy. It’s who I am, to be honest.

“Now saying that and then convincing Ma and Pops and my partner that it’s the right thing to do is a completely different ball game.”

Heavily armed and masked members of a police firearms team swarm around Borough Market on the morning after the attack
Roland Hoskins

Mr Marques was near the start of his night shift with the British Transport Police when he saw terrorists Youssef Zaghba, Khuram Butt and Rachid Redouane attacking revellers in Borough High Street near the junction with London Bridge Street.

Rather than wait for an armed response unit, the officer charged at the men with his baton, hitting one of them with “everything I had as hard as I could... trying to go for a knockout blow”.

Mr Marques, 38, fought with the attackers for 90 seconds
PA

In a fight he believes lasted up to 90 seconds, he was stabbed several times with hunting knives but did not realise the severity of his injuries because of the “adrenaline”.

He said at the time: “I ran but felt something go into my side. I was stabbed three times in the back and one punctured my lung. I fell and waited for them to finish me off but for some reason they stopped.”

London Bridge and Borough Market terrorist attack

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He was wounded just above his right eye and also suffered major injuries to his head, left leg and left hand.

Mr Marques said he did not want to plan too far ahead because he still suffers “setbacks”, but has made “significant progress” since that night.

Injured PC Wayne Marques is expecting to head back to work next month - a year on from the attack
PA

He said: “I’m much more independent, much more able, I’m standing, I’m walking, I’m able to socialise again, see family and friends.

“I’m doing well with my training and my rehab at the moment. I’m currently in a ‘run walk’ programme which is what I’m working through to continue to build myself up and the left side of my body up, to increase my running ability, because obviously I lost a lot of that since last year.

Attackers: Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba
Metropolitan Police/PA

“And I’m just basically trying to get as much of me back as possible.”

Borough Market & London Bridge terror attack tributes - In pictures

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He added: “I have my plans, my intentions but I have to be realistic about it.

“You get setbacks, you get things that go wrong, sometimes you wake up one day and you’re in pain. And you can’t really do any training until it eases off.

Floral tributes to the victims of the terror attack
Jeremy Selwyn

“I’ve still got far to go, but I’m on my way.”

Commemorations this weekend

 

Londoners will remember the victims of the attacks this weekend.

There will be a service of commemoration at Southwark Cathedral.  There will be a minute’s silence and speeches at the Southwark Needle monument at the corner of London Bridge and Duke Street Hill afterwards.

A minute’s silence will be held in government buildings and other locations at 4.30pm.

At 8pm the cathedral will host a Grand Iftar, breaking of the Ramadan fast, to mark the anniversary. 

​Redouane, 30, Butt, 27, and Zaghba, 22, killed eight people and injured nearly 50 more on the night of 3 June last year.

They deliberately drove a white van into people on London Bridge before stabbing people in Borough Market, where all three were shot dead by police.

Heroes of London Bridge attack - in pictures

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Mr Marques said the public support he had received had been “inspiring”, and the thousands of messages received had been “awesome” and “both needed and appreciated”.

“You can’t deny the response of the public to me and the job, to police officers since that tragedy last year.

“It’s been inspiring, it was overwhelming, it was encouraging. You go through these stages where you’re stuck in a bed and you’ve got this time to keep thinking about things…and then you get these messages from people who have just heard about you. You’ve never met them and you never will, in most cases.

“But they were just genuine, heartfelt, caring messages. It wasn’t just writing for the sake of writing, people felt the need to send me something or write me something.

“It makes a difference. It showed what it meant to a lot of people.

“Thankfully I haven’t had to buy a pint in a while so thank you very much for that!”

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