UK

Body of Westminster attack victim PC Keith Palmer brought to Houses of Parliament

The coffin of Pc Keith Palmer arrives at Westminster's Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in London. Picture by Isabel Infantes, Press Association
The coffin of Pc Keith Palmer arrives at Westminster's Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in London. Picture by Isabel Infantes, Press Association The coffin of Pc Keith Palmer arrives at Westminster's Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in London. Picture by Isabel Infantes, Press Association

The body of the policeman murdered in the Westminster terror attack has been brought to a chapel at the Houses of Parliament.

Pc Keith Palmer's coffin was taken through Old Palace Yard, near where he was stabbed to death by extremist Khalid Masood last month.

Draped in a police flag, it was taken by hearse to the resting place on Sunday afternoon, where it will stay overnight before his full police funeral at Southwark Cathedral on Monday.

A group of officers wearing white gloves formed two lines to meet the vehicle as the coffin was carried inside.

Uniformed police lined the edge of the square and crowds of people gathered to pay their respects.

The Queen has given permission for the 48-year-old officer's body to rest in Westminster's Chapel of St Mary Undercroft.

It is an honour normally reserved for heads of state and which was bestowed on former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Labour politician Tony Benn.

A short private service to receive the body into the chapel will be led by Reverend Prebendary Rose Hudson-Wilkin and attended by members of the Palmer family.

Four other innocent people were killed and dozens of others injured in the 82-second atrocity on Wednesday March 22, which ended with Masood being shot dead.

Andreea Cristea, 31, Leslie Rhodes, 75, Kurt Cochran, 54, and Aysha Frade, 44, died after he ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

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