The widow of London Bridge terrorist Rachid Redouane has forged a remarkable bond with a woman whose fiance was killed in the atrocity.
Charisse O’Leary and attack survivor Christine Delcros hugged each other and wept at an emotion-charged meeting.
They now send each other messages at Christmas and on the anniversary of the attacks.
Next weekend marks five years since Redouane and two fellow jihadists killed eight people – including Christine’s partner Xavier Thomas – before being shot dead by police in Borough Market.
The terrorists left 48 people injured. Charisse had no knowledge of their plot but has been consumed by guilt by her association to Redouane.
And she hasn’t revealed his murder spree to their daughter, six. But she did meet Christine after an inquest found that the victims were unlawfully killed.
French tourist Christine, who suffered a smashed pelvis, asked Charisse’s family liaison officer if they could meet after being moved to tears by her evidence at the victims’ inquest on June 5, 2019.
Charisse says: “It was difficult. I got a bit scared, I didn’t want to say no but was nervous about how she would react to see me. I had seen her in court, we were sitting opposite each other in the public gallery.
“I was taken to a room at the court. Christine had a translator there. Straight away she hugged me, and we were crying. We were together about 15 minutes.
“I always blamed myself. She told me ‘live your life and don’t blame yourself ’. She said my evidence was so moving.
“I always felt everyone blamed me because of what he did, so to hear that from a survivor was nice. She was a lovely lady.”
Charisse later messaged Christine on Facebook to thank her and the pair have stayed in touch.
Charisse, 43, adds: “I message her every anniversary and Christmas to let her know I’m thinking of her and I’m sorry.”
And just days ago, Christine messaged Charisse to say: “Even if the tributes remind me of my traumas, I don’t forget our beautiful meeting.”
She told Charisse her daughter is a “ray of light”, adding: “Live each day intensely as if it were the last.”
Tearful Charisse replied, saying: “Everything you have been kind heart towards me.”
Christine told the Sunday Mirror: “Charisse was involuntarily linked to this tragedy. I wanted to free her of guilt for the sake of her beautiful daughter.
“We hugged tight and cried together, exchanged kind words and parted with lighter hearts.”
Of the terrorists, she said: “They did not win. Love was stronger. Now we support each other.”
Christine and fiance Xavier, 45, had arrived from Paris on the morning of Saturday June 3, 2017, for a weekend of sightseeing.
Late that evening, they were caught in unimaginable carnage when Redouane, Khuram Butt and Youssef Zaghba ploughed a van into them and other pedestrians on London Bridge.
Wearing hoax suicide vests, they leapt out and stormed Borough Market, stabbing anyone in their path before being shot by police.
Christine, 50, went on to find new love with Sebastien Besatti, a survivor of the 2015 Bataclan terror attacks which left 130 dead in Paris. They met at a support group.
Charisse, meanwhile, faces difficult questions from her daughter.
“She wants to know about her daddy and I tell her he got run over,” Charisse says. “She thinks he’s in heaven and what I want to say is that he’s in hell. I can’t, not yet. I’m terrified that someone will tell her first or that she’ll come across it on the internet.
“I hope she doesn’t hate me when I tell her. I hope she doesn’t go off the rails.
"All I ever wanted is to protect her. I still get really bad days, where I think I don’t want to be here. But I can’t leave her. She’s my rock, I live for her – she’s such a little character.”
Charisse has a picture of Redouane and his wedding ring – returned by police – in a “memory box”. She will eventually show it to her daughter.
The mum has had to give up her job as a care assistant and a once busy social life has gone too. She has lost friends, was rehomed far from family and is “scared of her own shadow”.
She says: “I’ve been called a terrorist in the park when I’m out with my daughter. This has ruined my life.”
Charisse has had counselling but is still awaiting specialist trauma care that was delayed by the pandemic.
She vividly recalls police bashing her door down 12 hours after the attack. Charisse was held for 36 hours.
She wept: “I still can’t process it. Someone I was with for seven years – I thought I knew him.”
The couple met in 2010, married in 2012 and had their daughter in 2015. They moved to Barking, East London, in 2016 and it was then pastry chef Redouane, 30, met fellow jihadists Butt, 27, and Zaghba, 22.
Charisse said the only sign of radicalisation was when Redouane refused to let their girl watch soaps or music videos “in case they turned her gay”.
The couple split in January 2017 after Redouane struck Charisse.
She has kept in touch with his family in Morocco but rules out a visit as it would trigger “too many memories”.
Similarly, she has barely set foot in London since 2017 and an attempt at new romance turned sour when a man she met through a dating app labelled her a “sicko” over the attacks.
Charisse is also dreading the anniversary. But she will stay strong for her daughter, adding: “She clocks everything, she’s so clever. I try to keep as much back for her sake and keep going as best I can.”
