SA Hero Who Stopped a Terrorist Now Helping Prison-Leavers Start Over

Photo Credit: Darryn Frost

Darryn Frost was once a young boy whose school was the first to believe in him. As an adult, he went on to become the hero who disarmed a terrorist who threatened to blow up London Bridge. Now, he runs an initiative that gives prison-leavers a second chance.

South Africa (22 July 2026) – Darryn Frost is many things. A Jeppe alumnus and prefect, a civil servant, an honouree who was one of the last ever to receive an award approved by the late Queen Elizabeth, and a full-on hero.

Before all of that, he says, he was just a boy, labelled a ‘problem child.’

“Arriving at Jeppe Prep in my final year of primary school as a weekly boarder, I had been told I was a broken, problem child and was sent to child psychologists for behaviour correction. Within my first year at this new school, the teachers, who barely knew me, made me a prefect.” says Frost, as per Jeppe High School for Boys Alumni.

In his high school years, Darryn says he found the stability he had been missing in his childhood.

“Jeppe High School for Boys gave me what I had been missing: family, brotherhood, structure, respect, and a code to live by: Forti nihil difficilius – for the brave, nothing is too difficult.” he says. “As I grew older, I reflected on this and realised that it is not always the child who is broken; sometimes it is the environment.”

He discovered that he was so much more than what he had labelled as a young boy. Given the right support, he flourished. So much so that he later went on to build a hugely successful career and life path.

He moved to the UK for 16 years, where he worked for the Ministry of Justice. And then, about seven years ago, while attending a conference there, he became a real-life hero.

His incredible act of bravery would go on to make headlines around the world – people called him the ‘narwhal guy’. He was one of the last people to receive the honour of the Queen’s Gallantry Medal before she passed, for his courage.

On a random Tuesday – 19 November 2019 – he jumped into action and helped disarm a terrorist who was threatening to blow up London Bridge by detonating a suicide vest.

“He was attending a criminal justice conference at the Fishmonger’s Hall in London when it became known that Usman Khan had fatally stabbed two people.” shared Jeppe High School for Boys Alumni, recounting the story.
“He grabbed a narwhal tusk from a wall display and confronted Khan with it. Khan fled and Frost, and two other men, chased him and cornered him on the bridge where he threatened to blow himself up. They managed to subdue him until the police arrived. Kahn was eventually shot dead by them.”

Years later, Frost received his honour, approved by the late Queen Elizabeth herself. Recipients of the award are nominated by the public in recognition of ‘exemplary bravery in saving the lives of others’.

That day changed things for Frost.

“After the Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist attack in 2019, for which I was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, I asked myself how I could make a lasting difference. The answer was Own Merit CIC: a supported home for prison leavers built on the Jeppe values of brotherhood, structure, and treating every man firmly but fairly.” says Frost.

Frost had been working in the UK prison service, where he regularly came to deal with men the rest of the world had written off – much like he had been, as a young boy.

“I recognised them. They were broken boys who never got the chance to change their trajectory the way I did. They never got their own Jeppe.” says Frost.

In many ways, Frost had already seen what second chances could look like. During the Fishmongers’ Hall attack, one of the men who helped stop the terrorist alongside him was Steve Gallant, who at the time was serving a life sentence and attending the rehabilitation conference on day release. Gallant’s courage that day became a powerful example that people cannot always be defined by the worst thing they have ever done.

That experience reinforced what Frost had come to believe through years working in the prison system – that with the right support, accountability and opportunity, lives can change.

Today, Frost and Gallant work side by side as co-founders of Own Merit, a supported housing initiative that helps men leaving prison rebuild their lives with stability, structure and purpose. The organisation exists to give others what Frost believes changed the course of his own life all those years ago – someone willing to believe in them before they believe in themselves.

“Three years later, we’ve housed 26 men without a single incident of violence. Many have rebuilt their lives, and some now mentor others. The medal recognised five minutes of instinct, but Own Merit is the work I’m most proud of. It all began with one school believing in a lost twelve-year-old boy.” says Frost.