The most high profile royal pardon was awarded posthumously to Alan Turing in 2013, overturning the wartime codebreaker’s 1952 gross indecency conviction for a then illegal homosexual relationship. Khan carried out his deadly attack at a Learning Together rehabilitation event at Fishmonger’s Hall, which university students Saskia, 23, and Jack, 25, helped to organise. In jail, Steve attended anger management classes, channelled his energies into martial arts and the prison gym and started an Open University course in business and management. He was stabbed and bludgeoned with two wine bottles and a fire extinguisher by schizophrenic Zara Radcliffe during the attack in Pen Y Graig, Rhondda, South Wales.

He says: “Jack would have 100 per cent been behind the idea because it is something practical and of help.But I don’t define myself as a killer either, because otherwise I could never forgive myself and move on – even though I deeply regret what I did and have taken complete ownership for it. His thirst for learning led him to achieve a business degree from the esteemed Oxford Brookes University. He said: "In my mind, Gallant has nearly done his time and if someone has undergone rehabilitation and change, which it seems he has, then it's fair enough. Khan fatally stabbed University of Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, and injured three other people during the attack in November 2019.

He also said his "first act of violence for 14 years" was when he helped two others pin down Khan, who killed Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt. Mr Gallant told Channel 4 News: “What happened there represented so much of what I believe in – that people can change.He said: “I want what most people want, but most of all I want to do some good from what’s happened. Steven Gallant was on a day release to participate in a prisoner rehabilitation event in Fishmongers’ Hall. They were jointly on a jail rehabilitation visit to London when the radicalised Khan produced two knives, attacking and killing visit organisers Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23. Two years after the incident, Steve spoke about the harrowing moment he, John, and Ministry of Justice aide Darryn Frost pounced on Khan.

Steven Gallant, who was praised for risking his life to stop the attack, has been granted the royal prerogative of mercy, an extremely rare case of absolution for a convicted murderer.But I am certain they would wish us to continue developing Learning Together and enriching the lives of everyone associated. He said of the death of the two young people who lost their lives in the attack: "I first met Jack in 2016 when he became a course coordinator. Steve looks back with huge regret on the killing of Barrie Jackson who he believed had hurt his then partner. Steven, 44, was serving a life sentence at the time for the murder of firefighter Barrie Jackson in Hull in 2005, alongside James Gilligan, and was on his first day out of prison on licence on November 29, 2019, when he tackled Khan. His sentence was reduced by 10 months by former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland because of his bravery on London Bridge.

Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing. He is now one of 15 people in the country receiving the late Queen's civilian gallantry award, which recognises the bravery of those who’ve put themselves in danger to save or attempt to save someone’s life. Merritt’s father David, 55, of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, said: “Steve fully deserves this pardon, or reduction in sentence. I can never bring that life back, and it is right that I was handed a severe penalty for my actions.Get the latest updates from across Hull and East Yorkshire direct to your inbox with the free Hull Live newsletters. It finished with Saskia literally dying in front of me as we tried to keep her alive, so it’s really difficult to celebrate at all when my thoughts are with her. Gallant, 42, will see the 17-year sentence he received in 2005 reduced by 10 months, and could go before a parole board next June to rubber stamp his freedom, the Mirror reported. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said: “We all hope we’d react with courage in the face of danger.