The partner of a nurse murdered in the London Bridge attack is calling for the government to change a “horrific” process in which legal aid is granted to terrorists’ families but denied to those of their victims.

His girlfriend, Australian nurse Kirsty Boden, was stabbed to death while helping another victim during a rampage by three Isis supporters in June 2017.

Mr Hodder and relatives of the seven other victims applied for funding to be represented at inquests that examined alleged failings by security services and public authorities.

They were not told that legal aid applications had been denied on “public interest” grounds until the last week of gruelling hearings, where they had watched CCTV and graphic witness testimonies of their loved ones’ brutal deaths.

“I spent the whole day sitting in court in complete shock,” Mr Hodder told The Independent. “If the law firm turned round and said I needed to cover the bill, I would have been instantly bankrupt.”

The widow of attack ringleader Khuram Butt was granted legal aid for the same inquests, while the Metropolitan Police, MI5, City of London Corporation and other authorities had publicly funded representation.

“I wouldn’t say Butt’s wife shouldn’t get legal aid but it just brings it into sharp focus the question of why we didn’t,” Mr Hodder said. “It doesn’t make any sense … authorities will happily fund their own representation, which is the real hypocrisy of this whole situation.”