THE family of a Stow Maries woman who met PC Keith Palmer months before his death in the terrorist attack in Westminster have paid tribute.

Keith Palmer was stabbed outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, dying from his injuries.

Just five months earlier he was posing for a picture with the family of Claire Thorogood, from Stow Maries, in the same place, as they enjoyed their annual holiday to England.

Claire, who now lives in Alice Springs, Australia, husband Andrew, and their two daughters live in Australia, but return to Stow Maries every year in October to help Claire’s family pick grapes at Martin’s Lane Vineyard in the village.

Andrew Thorogood realised Keith was the man the family had met a few months earlier and took to Facebook to pay tribute to the “genuinely nice bloke” they had shared a conversation with.

He wrote: “It sent a shiver down my spine when I realised Keith was the officer who was killed in the London terror attack.

“I spoke with Keith for quite a while and found him to be a genuinely nice bloke. He said he would live to visit Australia with his family one day. The girls suggested if he did make it to Australia, he should visit Alice Springs and we would show him how special a place it is.

“That will never happen now, all because he was doing his job and trying to keep people safe in the face of yet another crazy terror attack. Our thoughts are with his wife and family.”

Andrew’s father-in-law Roy Martin, who runs Martin’s Lane Vineyard, said: “The family were over in October as they always are to help with the grape picking. We thought it would be good to take out granddaughters to the House of Commons so they could see parliament.

“We were going through the security checks when we met Keith Palmer and started talking to him. He was superb. He was the typical British bobby, the girls loved it.

“They had quite a long chat about how he should come over to Australia and to Alice Springs where they live. They are absolutely devastated by what happened.”