A robber has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 20 years, after stabbing two officers in London’s West End following a police chase.
Mohamed Rahman, 25, stabbed police officer Joseph Gerrard in the neck and chest with a knife – “aiming at areas where the Met vest provided no protection” – before stabbing PC Alannah Mulhall in the arm while he was driving in early September last year was drunk.
One of the Metropolitan police officers attacked by Rahman said “this kind of thing happens all the time.”
On Friday the Met released video footage of the attack, alongside an interview in which Pc Gerrard said: “We encountered a man brandishing a knife at our colleagues. Initially we shouted at the suspect to put the knife down, my colleague Dave put a Taser on him, I tried to hit him with a baton, but he then stabbed me in the arm.
“He then turned and ran towards my colleague Alannah.
‘Would I consider myself brave? No not really. Agents in London deal with this kind of thing every day, almost every day. The potential is always there for this situation to happen.”
Pc Alannah added that she believed Pc Gerrard would be killed in the attack.
She said: “The man was holding a knife like a dagger and I remember thinking he was going to kill him (Pc Gerrard) so I went over and punched him in the back.
“Like I tried to run to create space, but I wasn’t fast enough and he pushed the knife into my arm.
“These kinds of things happen all the time.”
The officers, who were based in the Met’s Central West Command Unit, responsible for policing Westminster, have both told how they have experienced lasting pain and extensive changes to their lives following the incident.
A group of officers chased Rahman after a member of the public, Mark Graven, told police the suspect had shown him a knife before taking his phone’s power bank in Shaftesbury Avenue.
In the course of the police chase – which led them to Leicester Square and during which Pava spray and Tasers failed to subdue the suspect – Rahman stabbed both Pc. Mulhall as PC. Gerrard with a kitchen knife that he had appropriated and inflicted a cut on PC. Richard Ulla’s finger.
Rahman, from Notting Hill, west London, was convicted in October after a trial at Kingston Crown Court of the attempted murder of Pc. Gerrard and grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent against Pc. Mulhall.
He was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Pc Ulla, two charges of threatening a person in a public place with a bladed article against two other officers and possession of a bladed article.
Rahman was further found guilty of robbing Mr Graven.
He was given a minimum term of twenty years, minus the 449 days he has already spent in pre-trial detention.
Judge Rajeev Shetty told Rahman: “I am certain that you are capable of the most violent behavior towards others, with the potential to kill.”
He added: “Anyone who is so unhinged as to attack a group of police officers… poses an even greater risk to the public.”
PC. Gerrard said in a February statement read out by the prosecutor in court that he had suffered “in agony every day” for months and that his life had come to a “complete standstill”.
In a statement he made in September, the officer said he has still not returned to “zero pain.”
He said: “It has been an uphill battle to free myself from injuries.
“It’s been a long, frustrating year.
“My life has been on hold.
“I’m tired of how long the rehab takes.”
PC. Mulhall read two statements in court, the first from February, in which she said: “It was a terrifying incident to be a part of and it will forever scar me mentally and physically.”
She told the court how she returned to her parents’ home and “essentially became a child again”.
“After the incident, I cried for 96 days straight,” she said.
She told how she felt “a lot of guilt” about pressing the emergency button, causing other officers to become involved in the incident, including Pc. Gerrard.
‘I thought PC. Gerrard was going to die that morning and this thought will haunt me for the rest of my life,” said PC. Mulhall.
In her statement in September, just over a year after the incident, she said: “The Alannah I knew died that morning and in her place is now a girl I don’t recognize.”
She looked at Rahman, who was sitting in the dock, and spoke to him, telling him how he “took so much from me”.
Chris Henley KC, defending, told the court his client had suffered a ‘mental health crisis’ and had become ‘increasingly paranoid’ in the days leading up to the incident.
The court heard that Rahman came into contact with police three days before the incident following reports that he was suicidal and ended up living on the streets for days.
Rahman, wearing a white yarmulke and blue robe, wrote a letter of apology that was read out in court by his lawyer.
He said he wished he could go back and change what happened, adding: “I feel extremely guilty for what I did.”
He called his actions “out of character,” labeled himself a non-violent person and insisted he “never” intended to hurt anyone.
Rahman also said he had “nothing against the police.”
After sentencing, the judge praised PCs Gerrard and Mulhall and other officers involved.
David Malone, Deputy Chief Prosecutor at CPS London South, said: “This was a shocking and horrific incident which highlights the courage it takes to be a frontline police officer.
“I hope this case sends a clear message to those who carry knives and intend to harm others. You will be arrested and prosecuted once our legal test is met.”
Detective Inspector Ollie Stride, who led the investigation, said: “Today’s conviction of Rahman for the attempted murder of PC Joe Gerrard and the serious wounding of PC Alannah Mulhall reflects the seriousness of his offending.
“The courage and bravery of Joe and Alannah, as well as the medical intervention of their colleagues, firearms officers and paramedics, prevented a much worse outcome.”