Photographer speaks out to defend photo from London attack scene which was used to incite hate

A photographer has spoken out to defend his picture of a woman walking past victims of the London terror attack on Westminster Bridge after it was used to incite hate.

The woman is seen holding one hand to her head while walking past a woman being treated on the bridge. It was criticised online by a Twitter troll who accused her of “casually” walking past.

Jamie Lorriman, who took the picture, leapt to her defence and refuted claims that she was ignoring the injured woman who was mown down by terrorist Khalid Masood on Wednesday.

The freelance photographer told ABC: “The people who took on that picture are being rather selective.

“In the other picture in the sequence she looks truly distraught - personally I think she looks distressed in both pictures.

“To assume she was ignoring someone is impossible to know, the look on the woman's face, she's horrified, she's in the middle of a traumatic situation.”

One Twitter user posted the picture and wrote: “Muslim woman pays no mind to the terror attack, casually walks by a dying man while checking phone.”

The controversial tweet provoked an online row, with other users branding him “the real monster here.”

Vicky Forster wrote: “You are a complete embarrassing mess of a person. Kindly crawl back to the pond you came out of. Stupidity embodied.”

Another disgusted Twitter user added: “She looks terrified. Which she would be, most likely being British and bang in the middle of a terror attack.'”

Others suggested the woman could have been calling her family to say she was safe, pointing out there was little context to the image.

Wednesday’s horrifying attacks left at least five people dead, as a man ploughed through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing through Parliament gates.

There the terrorist, named on Thursday by police as Khalid Masood, stabbed to death unarmed police officer Keith Palmer before he was shot dead.

Up to 40 other people were also injured in the attack, with casualties including Britons, French children, Romanians, South Koreans, Greeks, and people from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States.

Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously.