Lives were torn apart in "10 minutes of high and terrible drama" in the 2017 London Bridge attack, an inquest into the victims' deaths has heard.

Eight people were killed when three men drove a van into pedestrians and stabbed others in Borough Market.

Opening the inquest, Judge Mark Lucraft QC told the Old Bailey he hoped it would answer the relatives' "obvious and understandable questions".

Tributes to the victims will also be heard on the first day of the hearing.

Those who were killed in the attack on 3 June were James McMullan, 32, from Hackney in London, French trio Xavier Thomas, 45, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, and Sebastien Belanger, 36, Canadian Chrissy Archibald, 30, Ignacio Echeverria, 39, from Madrid, and Australians Sara Zelenak, 21, and Kirsty Boden, 28.

An eight-week hearing into the deaths of the victims will be followed by a separate three-week hearing for the inquests of their killers - that hearing will be in front of a jury.

The attackers, Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, were shot dead by police at the scene.

The hearings will examine the circumstances of each of the deaths, as well as how the leader of the attack - Butt - was able to plan it, even though he was the target of an MI5 investigation.

It will also look into issues including why were there no barriers to protect pedestrians on the bridge, more than 10 weeks after the Westminster Bridge attack.