Fearless Nottingham victim Grace Kumar bravely fought off knifeman as he attacked pal Barnaby Webber

: "The boy and the girl were walking on their own, there was nobody else in the picture except the attacker, who came up from behind.

"He attacked the boy first – the girl had an opportunity to run away.

"But she didn't, she tried to get the man off her friend.

"She tried to save the boy."

At a vigil for the attack victims yesterday, Grace's family remembered their "beautiful baby girl" and said that she was studying to become a doctor like her father.

Meanwhile, Barney's mum said: "My beautiful, beautiful boy, you have mine, your dad and your brother's heart forever."

Valdo Calocane, 31, has been charged with the pair's murder, as well as that of school caretaker Ian Coates, 65.

He is accused of stabbing the trio, before stealing Mr Coates' van and using it to drive into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring three, in the early hours of Tuesday.

He was Tasered and cuffed after allegedly running at cops with a knife on Maples Street in Nottingham at 5.30am.

Some 90 minutes before the arrest Grace and Barney's bodies were found in the street just 300 yards from their halls of residence on Ilkeston Road.

Mr Coates' body was found two miles away from the students, on Magdala Road, at 5am.

And a man matching the description of the suspect was captured on CCTV trying to break into a homeless shelter through an open window in Mapperley at 4.08am.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “These charges are a significant development and arise as a result of our thorough investigation into these horrific incidents that occurred in our city.

"Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of all those affected by these attacks, and we will continue to provide support and reassurance."

Calocane, understood to be from Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham last summer.

He was said to be "very bright" but suffering with his mental health.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said the driver of a marked police car had sight of a van for "less than a minute" before it collided with pedestrians during the Nottingham attacks.

In a statement, a spokesman for the IOPC said: "We have viewed dashcam footage from the police car and can confirm the officer, in a single-crewed vehicle en route to a linked incident, had sight of the van for less than a minute before the collision in the South Sherwood Street area.

"The officer immediately stopped to provide first aid."

It added that "our investigation will consider whether the actions of the van driver were influenced by the police car's presence".