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DIY SOS transforms Westminster terror attack victim's home after Nick Knowles appeal


The latest episode of DIY SOS sees Nick Knowles and his team convert the house of PC Kris Aves – the now-paralysed policeman who was injured during the Westminster terror attack last March, when someone drove a car into innocent pedestrians killing five and injuring 50.

Kris, 35, was left in a wheelchair after the attack saw one off-duty policeman killed after the assailant abandoned his crashed vehicle and stabbed him to death.

While Kris has been recovering since the life-changing event, he’s been unable to return home to his family because his house isn’t wheelchair accessible.

But now the DIY show has allowed for Kris to go home and be with partner Marissa Cooney and two children Tom, 6, and Aoife, 4, to become a family unit once more.

Nick Knowles helps out the policeman who was left paralysed after the Westminster terror attack.(BBC One)
Nick Knowles helps out the policeman who was left paralysed after the Westminster terror attack.(BBC One)

It was last September when Knowles’ BBC show announced that they were about to renovate and adapt his East Barnet home into an accessible place for him to live.

The programme appealed for volunteers to help with the huge task at hand and the community certainly didn’t disappoint. In fact, an impressive 900 people volunteered their time and effort to make the transformation possible.

The results are frankly heartwarming, as Kris gets particularly emotional when the big reveal takes place at the climax of the show.

One volunteer said: ‘We want to give back to the people that protect us,’ as an explanation why he was taking part and why so many others responded to the challenge.

Nick Knowles helps out the policeman who was left paralysed after the Westminster terror attack.(BBC One)
Nick Knowles helps out the policeman who was left paralysed after the Westminster terror attack.(BBC One)

Among the people to have helped out on the episode were Dawn Morris, who gave Kris his police commendation (from where he was walking home from on that fateful day), and a relative of stabbed London teenager Ben Kinsella.

Incredibly, the team had just nine days to redo the house, but as Nick says, they had the ‘biggest response ever.’ Kris was visibly moved upon seeing the results because he had no idea the extent they’d go to to accommodate him.

The transformation and impact of the gesutre can be seen, in full, on DIY SOS: The Big Build tonight at 8pm, on BBC1.

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