Meet Roy Larner, the fearless, hilarious 47-year-old who responded to the London Bridge jihadists bursting into the Black & Blue pub by taunting and then fighting all three of the 12-inch blade-carrying murderers with his bare fists. He lost the fight, but it was the terrorists who ended up losing their lives moments later. Despite being stabbed eight times by the cowardly radical Islamists, Larner survived — as did his self-deprecating sense of humor and love of the Lions football club.
The Sun provides a charming profile of Larner, “The Lion of London Bridge,” who gave the outlet his account of his confrontation with the jihadists (Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22) who took the lives of eight and injured dozens others after plowing a van into pedestrians on the London Bridge, then going on a stabbing rampage in the nearby streets and establishments.
Larner was in the Black & Blue pub with his friends when the three terrorists burst in, chanting “Islam!” and “This is for Allah!” Instead of running for the exit, Larner confronted the losers head-on, and as the Sun puts it, “saving countless lives as he gave staff and other drinkers time to escape.”
“They had these long knives and started shouting about Allah. Then it was, ‘Islam, Islam, Islam,'” Larner told the Sun from his hospital bed Monday. “Like an idiot I shouted back at them. I thought, ‘I need to take the p*** out of these b******s.'”
Just giving that line a second to resonate… Okay, now for the rest of his amazing statement:
“I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall.’ So they started attacking me,” he said. “I stood in front of them trying to fight them off. Everyone else ran to the back. I was on my own against all three of them, that’s why I got hurt so much. It was just me, trying to grab them with my bare hands and hold on. I was swinging.”
Larner ended up getting stabbed eight times, though, thank God, none of the wounds were fatal.
“I got stabbed and sliced eight times. They got me in my head, chest and both hands. There was blood everywhere,” he said. “They were saying, ‘Islam, Islam!’ I said again, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall!’ It was the worst thing I could have done as they carried on attacking me. Luckily, none of the blows were straight at me or I’d be dead.”
“All three were on me,” he explained. “I couldn’t hold them back. Two got past me and I was one-on-one. He kept slashing and hacking away at me. They were stabbing and slashing at me as I waved my arms for 20 or 30 seconds.”
Larner also described the harrowing scene when the terrorists first entered:
“There was loads of noise,” said Larner. “No one knew what was happening. Then the bouncers tried to shut the door. The terrorists were pushing against the doors to get in. Everyone inside was running around in panic. A few tried to get out the back and others hid under tables or behind counters. The men then smashed open the door where I was standing. The three of them stood together.”
Despite being badly injured, Larner followed them outside and witnessed the three jihadists get shot dead by police.
“They ran out of the pub and legged it,” he said. “I went outside and saw them head towards The Wheatsheaf pub. Then from nowhere I heard gunshots and saw all three go down. I didn’t think of my safety at the time. I’d had four or five pints — nothing major. I can handle myself. But I was out with an old person and it was out of order. It wasn’t until I was in a police car that I realised I was in a bad way. I’d been sliced up all over.”
Larner was taken to St Thomas’ Hospital and after surgery was taken off the critical list on Sunday.
As a reward for his bravery, some of his friends pitched in for an appropriately hilarious gift, a book titled “Learn to Run.”
The Sun also talked with Larner’s mother Phyllis, 78, who described him as “fearless.”
“He’s fearless, my son. He’ll give as good as he gets,” she said. “He’s quite nippy and lippy and wouldn’t back down from a fight. He wouldn’t care who it was or if they had a knife or gun.”
Thanks to Roy (and his mum, who indeed raised a fearless son), the jihadists’ rampage at the Black & Blue was thwarted. Their murder spree came to an abrupt and inglorious end just a few moments later.
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