14/01/2026
Some stories are so violent, so unlikely, and so deeply human that they feel impossible to believe. Not because they are exaggerated, but because real life is rarely this extreme. This is one of those stories.
Steve Gallant’s is one of them.
In November 2019, Steve walked out of prison on day release for the first time in years. No fanfare, no headlines. Just a Hull man who had worked to turn his life around after spending many years behind bars.
Little did he know, just hours later, he would be wrestling an armed terrorist to the ground on London Bridge.
I recently spoke to Steve on the phone, and I can honestly say I was gripped from the first minute. The calmness in his voice, the honesty, the weight of what he’s lived through, is something that stays with you.
Captured in his book, Steve describes how he was invited to a Learning Together event at Fishmongers’ Hall, organised by his mentor Jack Merritt and attended by Saskia Jones. It was meant to be a quiet, positive step forward a chance to prove to himself that change was real.
Instead, Usman Khan walked in wearing a fake su***de vest and began attacking people with knives.
What happened next is now part of British history.
Armed with nothing but a narwhal tusk taken from the wall, Steve charged towards the attacker. Not because he was trained, not because he had to, but because people were dying in front of him.
He fought Khan on the bridge, wrestled him to the ground, and held him there until armed police arrived and ended the threat.
Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were murdered. Their names deserve to be remembered.
Steve carries that with him.
When I spoke to Steve, he described the moment with no drama, no exaggeration. Just facts. Raw and heavy. He told me about the noise, the confusion, the shock, and the realisation that violence had found him again, after he had sworn never to use it.
I told him something on that call that still feels true now:
The odds of being on your very first day of freedom after years inside… and walking straight into a terrorist attack… must be millions to one.
He quietly agreed.
Inside HMP Frankland, surrounded by fires, tension and constant danger, Steve decided to change. He educated himself, taught himself how to write, and completed a business degree.
He vowed never to use violence again.
That vow was broken on London Bridge for the only reason that could ever justify it. To save others.
In 2020, he was granted a Royal Prerogative of Mercy. In 2021, he was released. In 2023, he was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal.
But speaking to him, medals don’t seem to matter much.
What matters is that two innocent people lost their lives. What matters is that others went home because he stepped forward.
It is the story of a Hull man who turned his life around, and then, on the most unlikely day imaginable, chose courage over fear.
Not many people ever face a moment like that.
Even fewer run towards it.
