Woolwich hero's extraordinary compusure: how mother stood up to knifeman

Confronted by the gruesome aftermath of the killing of a soldier in Woolwich, mother-of-two Ingrid Loyau-Kennett calmly approached the two men alleged to be responsible. She tried to maintain eye-to-eye contact with one of them, despite the man holding a knife and standing covered in blood in front of her. Asking the man what he was hoping to achieve, she was told "I want to kill more." "Well, you can't have a war in London really," she replied. Although she could hear the sound of distant police sirens, Ms Loyau-Kennett was completely alone with the man, as bewildered passers-by looked on from further down the road. Describing the man who has been widely pictured ranting at onlookers while holding a large meat cleaver, she said he appeared agitated but in command of his faculties. "He was not drunk, he was not high on drugs. He was just somebody that was pissed off, that's it." Later in the incident, she asked the man if a revolver he was by now carrying was a working weapon. He told her it was, to which she responded "okay, just enquiring." She then approached the other alleged attacker and tried to persuade him to put down the knife he was holding. She asked: "Would you like to stop, would you like to give me what you have in your hands?" Minutes later, she witnessed armed police draw up in a 4x4 vehicle. "It [the police car] was not even stopped. The policewoman and policeman came out shooting." Ms Loyau-Kennett struggled to explain the remarkable sense of calm she displayed during the incident. "I don't know, maybe it runs in the family," she said. Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... Like us on Facebook   / telegraph.co.uk   Follow us on Twitter   / telegraph   Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/1028913550727... Telegraph.co.uk and    / telegraphtv   are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.