'I just felt his hand go': Julian Cadman's mother relives Barcelona terror attack

The mother of seven-year-old Julian Cadman has spoken of the day her son was ripped from her hand in Barcelona's La Ramblas terror attack.

Australian boy Julian Cadman was killed in the Barcelona terror attack

Australian boy Julian Cadman was killed in the Barcelona terror attack Source: AAP

Julian Cadman's grief-stricken mother has spoken of the terrifying moment her seven-year-old son was ripped from her grasp as a rampaging van mowed down pedestrians on Barcelona's La Ramblas on August 17.

Julian was among 13 people who died when 22-year-old Moroccan Younes Abouyaaqoub zigzagged through the crowded tourist strip in an attack that was claimed by terror group Islamic State.

"I just felt his hand go," Jumarie Cadman, 43, told The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.

Ms Cadman says she and her son had just stepped out of a toy shop when the van hit them, sending Julian across the pavement.
"I don't remember much, apart from the doorstep of the toy shop. Someone came to help me but I told them 'I have a boy, he's in white, please find him'," she said.

Ms Cadman had taken her son to Spain for a wedding where he was to be a page boy. The outfit bought for him to wear was never worn.

A seriously injured Ms Cadman ended up in a Barcelona hospital for three weeks undergoing extensive surgery to fix her broken legs, pelvis and face. She returned to Sydney on September 6.

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