Funeral due for London attack officer PC Keith Palmer – BBC News

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Image caption PC Keith Palmer was protecting the Houses of Parliament when he died

The funeral of PC Keith Palmer, who was killed in the Westminster attack, will take place in London’s Southwark Cathedral later.

PC Palmer was guarding the Houses of Parliament when he was stabbed by Khalid Masood on 22 March. He will have a full police funeral.

Thousands of officers will line the route as his coffin is taken from a chapel at the Palace of Westminster.

His body has been lying in rest there by special permission of the Queen.

His coffin was taken to the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft on Sunday and received by a guard of honour from his police branch, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command.

PC Palmer, 48, was married with a five-year-old daughter. He had served in the Metropolitan Police for 15 years.

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Media captionPC Palmer’s coffin is carried into the Palace of Westminster

Members of his family attended a short private service in the chapel on Sunday before officers watched over his coffin throughout the night.

On Monday afternoon, the cortege will make its way from Westminster via Lambeth Bridge to Southwark Cathedral for a service at 14:00 BST.

Two thousand Met officers will be on duty for the funeral in policing and ceremonial roles, while many others from forces across the UK are expected to attend.

The funeral will be the first engagement for the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, who was appointed in February and takes charge on Monday.

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Four other people were killed in the attack, as Masood drove his car into crowds on Westminster Bridge.

Romanian Andreea Cristea, 31, who fell from the bridge into the River Thames, died in hospital on Thursday.

Aysha Frade, 44, who worked at a London sixth-form college, US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and retired south London window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, also died.

Masood was shot by police officers in New Palace Yard, inside the Westminster estate, after he fatally stabbed PC Palmer.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39548110

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