A leading east Kent cricketer was just 600 yards away from the scene of one of the worst terrorist atrocities ever visited upon Europe.

Lewis Jenkins, a former pupil at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, was celebrating his birthday in Paris at a restaurant close to the Bataclan hall where Islamist terrorists massacred 89 people on Friday night.

The 34-year-old and his girlfriend Lucy Tolond made it to the safety of their apartment in the Le Marais area of the city when they heard the explosions of two terrorists detonating their suicide vests.

“Around 9pm we started getting these texts from England saying that something was going on and checking we were all right,” said Lewis, of Island Road in Upstreet.

“People’s phones were buzzing all around us and the mood really changed. We left to go back to the apartment we are staying in, but the magnitude of what was happening hadn’t quite hit us yet.

“Some of the other people in the restaurant stayed there to remain safe because they had further to go home.”

The couple had travelled out on Friday to celebrate the former St Lawrence Cricket Club captain’s birthday.

Their apartment is in the district, or arrondissement, immediately next to the district where terrorists attacked diners in three restaurants, killing 20. They heard the explosions around midnight.

Today it emerged that at least two of the murderers were smuggled into Europe posing as asylum-seekers from Syria. Another is understood to be a French citizen and one may have only been 15 years old.

Lewis and Lucy ventured out on Saturday to find the entire city in mourning.
He said: “It was surreal. There was just a very sombre air. People were in the streets and were going up and laying flowers or lighting candles

“It was all very subdued. The Metro was closed on Saturday, but it has reopened.

“What happened here is just unbelievable. It is very quiet today.”

Lucy and Lewis, who runs Nethergong Nurseries in Upstreet, are due to return on Monday. Eurostar trains are running.

In a show of solidarity, Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre was lit up with the colours of the Tricolore on Saturday night.