A cub scout leader remonstrated with one of the Woolwich murderers in the aftermath of the attack, it has been reported.
The Daily Telegraph said Ingrid Loyau-Kennett engaged one of the the men in conversation after passing the scene on a bus.
The man appeared to be holding a bloodied knife
The 48-year-old told the paper: “I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said 'what do you want?’
“I asked him if he did it and he said yes and I said why? And he said because he has killed Muslim people in Muslim countries, he said he was a British solider and I said really and he said 'I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan they have nothing to do there.”
Loyau-Kennett, a mother of two, told the Telegraph she said to one of the men: "'Well, what about you? Would you like to give me what you have in your hands?’
"I did not want to say weapons but I thought it was better having them aimed on one person like me rather than everybody there, children were starting to leave school as well."
As onlookers gathered, one of the suspects addressed a camera held by a passer-by, warning British people would "never be safe" and saying the attack was "an eye for an eye."