Face to face with gunman

A survivor of the Utoya massacre that left 69 people dead described coming face to face with Anders Behring Breivik for the first time since the day of the shootings.

Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party’s youth league which was holding a summer camp on the island, was at the Oslo court for the first day of Breivik’s trial on Monday.

He watched as Breivik did not react to the 77 names of those killed that day were read out.

The 28-year-old, who escaped unharmed, said: “I didn’t know exactly how I would react, in advance.

“For me, I didn’t have that many strong feelings when it came to seeing him and being in the same room as him.

“He doesn’t show that many feelings, so it’s pretty much like looking at a picture when you see him in court.”

“I have much more feelings towards all of the families of the victims present, and how they must react to his being there and listening to the names of their children read by the prosecution.”

He said the most difficult part of the day was listening to a recording of his friend’s frantic phone call to police from Utoya.

“Shots have been fired,” Renate Taarnes, 22, said. “I’m pretty sure that there are many injured.”

More than a dozen shots in close succession were heard as Taarnes fell silent. She escaped the massacre unharmed and is due to give evidence to the trial.

Mr Pedersen said: “That was one of the toughest things to go through yesterday. It is difficult to listen to the recordings of a person I know very well and listen to the fear in her voice and listen to the shots being fired.