In recent years, many terrorist attacks overseas have shown that, sadly, killers do not need sophisticated weapons or complex plots to wreak mayhem. Driving a vehicle into pedestrians and attacking with a knife can be enough to create carnage.

Today this type of terrorism came to London. While the attacker’s identity and precise motivation are not yet known, driving into policemen and civilians on Westminster Bridge and then attacking policemen guarding Parliament with a knife are the clearest indicators that this was ideologically motivated violence.

As our Prime Minister has said:

“The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech.”

We welcome the Prime Minister’s determination that:

“We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have experienced terrible life-changing injuries, and to the relatives and friends of those who have been killed.

Incidents like today’s remind us that every day our police forces put themselves at risk to protect all of us from harm.

The Police Dependants Trust is a charity that provides support to officers who have been injured on duty, and to the families of those officers who have lost their lives in the line of their police work. You can make a donation to it, as our Chairman has already done, by following the link https://www.pdtrust.org/ and then clicking the “Donate Now” button in the top right hand corner.