“Like an idiot, I shouted back at them. I thought, ‘I need to take the piss out of these bastards.’ I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘Fuck you, I’m Millwall’. So they started attacking me.”
Larner’s shouting actually drew the attention of all three attackers who slashed at him, severely wounding him in the process. But his (perhaps foolhardy) actions allowed other patrons in the steakhouse time to flee the building via the rear exit, potentially meaning a Millwall chant saved numerous lives.
“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. I got stabbed and sliced eight times. They got me in my head, chest and both hands. There was blood everywhere.”
“They were saying, ‘Islam, Islam!’ I said again, ‘Fuck 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.”
Roy is recovering in hospital, and is out of intensive care, after receiving knife wounds to his head, neck, arms, and torso. But his spirits remain typically laconic, and ever since his story has spread some have gone so far as to dub him ‘The Lion of London Bridge.’
“He’s fearless, my son. He’ll give as good as he gets. 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.”
As for what he was actually thinking at the time, Larner reckons he wasn’t *too* deep into a skinful of pints to cloud his judgment terribly, but the whole thing was still not bloody on.
“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.”
But just because he exhibited hero behaviour and saved the lives of many during a deadly terrorist attack – suffering horrible injuries in the process – doesn’t mean for a second that his mates aren’t taking the opportunity to give him a good old-fashioned gee up.
Roy larners m8s have a funny sense of humour #Hero #LondonTerrorAttacks #LondonBridge pic.twitter.com/aktgnxK2Xb
— Goodfella (@Jimmycn1) June 6, 2017
Onya, lads.