Westminster victim's boyfriend wipes away tears as he watches CCTV of their last moments together before she was sent somersaulting into Thames by terrorist's car on day he planned to propose
Title : Westminster victim's boyfriend wipes away tears as he watches CCTV of their last moments together before she was sent somersaulting into Thames by terrorist's car on day he planned to propose
Link : Westminster victim's boyfriend wipes away tears as he watches CCTV of their last moments together before she was sent somersaulting into Thames by terrorist's car on day he planned to propose
- Inquest into death of Westminster attack victims shown tourists' last pictures
- She died after being thrown into the Thames when she was hit by attacker's car
- Photos show she was sightseeing in Parliament Square before crossing bridge
- Boyfriend Andrei Burnaz described his frantic search for her during aftermath
The boyfriend of a Westminster terror attack victim today broke down in tears at an inquest today as he watched CCTV of their final moments together before she was killed.
Andreea Cristea, 32, was the last victim of Khalid Masood and was flung over the parapet into the River Thames after being hit by his car.
Today Andrei Burnaz, who had planned to propose to the interior designer later that day, described the chaos of the aftermath as he ran up and down the bridge hunting for his partner but only found her bloodied mobile phone.
He told the Old Bailey inquest: 'I started searching for Andreea and I started running over the bridge. But I couldn't see her'.
Mr Burnaz said he ran towards the terrorist's car but was turned back by police trying to clear Parliament Square.
He said that he then rang Andreea's phone - and gained hope because it began to ring - only to find her mobile and glasses in a pool of blood.
The couple were taking photos of the London Eye before she was knocked into the river and killed in the Westminster terror attack.
Giving evidence at the inquest, Mr Burnaz said: 'It was very busy, very crowded but suddenly I heard some screaming and some noises in front of me.
'After that a loud bumping. That sound, something hit something and after that in the same time people were screaming.
'It was very quick, everything was very quick. In the same second I felt a burning sensation on my left foot and another bang, something that was probably Andreea.'
This CCTV image shows the exact moment Ms Cristea was knocked into the water
Mr Burnaz, pictured with his partner, had been planning to propose on the day of her death
This is one of the last photos taken by tourist Andreea Cristea on Westminster Bridge before she was hit by a car driven by terrorist Khalid Masood and knocked into the Thames
The inquest saw CCTV footage of the couple on the bridge moments before the attack. Ms Cristea is highlighted
Mr Burnaz told the inquest he realised the car had run over his foot, and his girlfriend, who had been 40cm away was gone.
'I looked in the left side of me to search for Andreea but I did not know what happened.'
He said he search the bridge and looked over the side, fearing she had fallen into the river.
After about two or three minutes, he saw an armed police officer and tried to explain what happened.
He said: 'I ran and started to explain to him what had happened and I tried to explain to him that I could not find my girlfriend and he started yelling "go back, go back, clear the area".'
Mr Burnaz went on: 'I turned back to the spot in the middle of the bridge and I started again to look around for her. I tried to call her on her phone. Her phone started ringing. I found her phone and glasses covered in blood.'
He used the mobile to call Ms Cristea's sister to tell her what happened.'For a couple of minutes because nobody did not do anything about this so I thought maybe it would be better to jump in the river to search for her, but I didn't.'
By then there were a lot of police on the bridge and he spoke to a female officer around 15 minutes after he and his girlfriend were hit.
'Nobody took action about nothing, about my girlfriend and I informed her that I think Andreea was hit by the car and she was in the water right now,' he said.
'She didn't do anything about this just took my birth date and some information about me.'
He said he wanted to speak to another police officer but added: 'She pressed the button on the radio and informed her other colleagues about what happened, about what I said.
'That's the first time when anybody took action about this.'
Miss Cristea, 32, was the last victim of Khalid Masood on Westminster Bridge and was flung over the parapet into the River Thames.
Her family released this photo of her as they described her as an 'independent, strong and reliable young woman'
The photos, shown at the victims' inquests yesterday, show Miss Cristea and her boyfriend had been sightseeing in Parliament Square before the terror attack which claimed her life
The interior designer was on holiday with her boyfriend and had just finished looking around Westminster Abbey and was heading towards the London Eye when Masood struck.
The impact of the car propelled her over the balustrade and 12.5m down to the water below, the inquests into the victims' deaths heard yesterday.
A tourist boat, the Millennium Diamond, found her face down in the river after she had been carried 100m, and a London Fire Brigade boat helped get her out of the water.
From there Ms Cristea was handed over to paramedics who rushed her away in an ambulance.
She had spent 8min and 55 sec in the water and was unconscious but showing signs of life.
She was transferred to St Thomas' Hospital, which sit at the south side of Westminster Bridge, but never regained consciousness and on April 6 she was declared dead from multiple organ failure and a head injury.
Yesterday a 999 call made by a witness, Michael Brown, was played in court: 'There's a woman in the water drowning [inaudible] f**k.
'There's a boat, try and get the boat. She's been spotted, she's been spotted.'
The inquest today heard from Mr Brown, who was driving over the bridge on his way home from work.
He told the inquest he 'heard a bang' and thought there had been a bus crash but then saw Ms Cristea get knocked over the bridge.
Mr Brown said: 'I saw a lady thrown like a somersault about ten feet into the air. 'I turned my van round jumped out, looked to the side of the bridge. I couldn't see her.'
He described the scene as 'carnage' and while calling 999, he ran across the bridge and saw her in the water before a boat approached to try to help her.
Mr Brown then broke down in tears as Ms Cristea's family thanked him for trying to help.
Miss Cristea had been visiting London with her boyfriend Andrei in the days before the atrocity
Masood killed five in his 82-second rampage over Westminster Bridge in March last year. He killed four pedestrians on the bridge before crashing into Parliament and stabbing a policeman
Known to her family as Nia, Miss Cristea ran her own interior design company in Romania and loved travelling.
The daughter of a surgeon and a pharmacist, she was privately educated in Constanta and studied marketing at the university.
She was described as a 'very independent, strong and reliable young woman' who was 'dedicated and hardworking' and saving to buy her buy her own house.
'She was very proud of everything she had achieved and her financial independence. She absolutely loved traveling and enjoyed going on trips abroad, to visit different countries and to see and experience new cultures, people and discover unknown things,' Magdelana Toi, told the inquest.
'She was very fond of sports and loved to go to the gym, it was very important to her to be fit and healthy.
She shared a passion for traveling with her boyfriend, Andrei and they went to Thailand together.
'She very much enjoyed taking pictures of her trips and everywhere she went,' Ms Toi said.
'She very much wanted her own family, but all her dreams were shattered when she went on her final trip to England.'
The inquest was read a letter she had written herself in January 2017.
It read: 'The year 2017 will be the best year of my life from every point of view. I will buy my first house with my own money and I will decorate it in an industrial cozy, loft style.
'I will be happy, cheerful, jovial and emotionally and sentimentally fulfilled
Masood drove along the pavement of Westminster Bridge before running into the grounds of Parliament
'My business will be successful and I will break all my personal records with my future projects and customers.
'I will have a wonderful man by my side who will love and worship me, with this man I will have a wonderful family.'
'Heartbreakingly sad, isn't it?' Ms Toi said. 'We will never forget our Nia.'
'We were all hoping for a recovery despite of her critical but stable condition,' she added.
'We were hoping for a miracle. It is hard to find words to describe those incredibly difficult days and weeks. No one can imagine what you really feel.
'After two excruciating weeks of hoping for a recovery, the worst case scenario occurred.'
Westminster victim's boyfriend wipes away tears as he watches CCTV of their last moments together before she was sent somersaulting into Thames by terrorist's car on day he planned to propose
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Westminster victim's boyfriend wipes away tears as he watches CCTV of their last moments together before she was sent somersaulting into Thames by terrorist's car on day he planned to propose
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