The attack happened at 10.30pm with the first 999 call recorded three minutes later. But the world remained oblivious to the multiple stabbings for almost three hours.
There was no media blackout requested by police, but for the first time possibly in the history of Twitter, the horror remained undocumented until the small hours.
The first many knew of any attack was a police statement at 1.19am when Reuters reported: “One dead, up to six injured in knife incident in Russell Square, central London.”
The absence of social media meant most of London went to sleep oblivious to the horrors that had struck.
