Page 11RING AT THE LAW
Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019
QQQMan carrying albino ferret and
four knives attacks civil servant
Horror at the
Home Office
Teen held after youth stabbing
offenders should ‘literally feel terror’ at the
thought of committing offences’.
Chris Henley, chairman of the Criminal Bar
Association, said last night: ‘There is no seri-
ous plan to deal with rising crime.
‘The police have never been under more
pressure and never been more starved of the
resources they need. Instead we get endless
gimmicks and self-regarding rhetoric.’
Mr Apter said: ‘Every police officer wants to
help victims, catch criminals and bring them
to justice. And they are as frustrated as any-
one when they are not able to do this. Ournew prime minister has made some bold
commitments about policing and criminal
justice – and I will be holding him to them.’
While prosecutions have fallen, the average
custodial sentence is now the highest in a
decade, with an average of 17.2 months.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘We
are doing more to restore public confidence
in the justice system, investing in police and
prison places and reviewing sentencing to
make sure violent and sexual offenders are
properly punished.’
Comment – Page 18A MAN carrying an albino ferret
and four knives stabbed a civil
servant in the head outside the
Home Office yesterday.
The victim, a man aged in his 60s,
fled into the Whitehall ministry cov-
ered in blood as armed police put the
area on lockdown after the unpro-
voked attack in broad daylight.
Moments earlier the attacker is said to
have approached people who had left the
building for lunch still wearing their iden-
tity lanyards and asked if they worked for
the Home Office.
He was believed to be carrying the ferret
in a pet carrier, as well as having a CS
spray canister, a return train ticket to Bir-
mingham and a body-worn camera at the
time of attack at around 1pm.
One young woman was said to be left
shaken after the 6ft man approached her
carrying four knives and asked her if she
worked for the Home Office. The civil serv-
ant denied that she did, before the man
went on to stab his victim. The assault30 seconds. Then he just casually walked
off. Ambled off.’ The man walked to the
nearby church and took a seat on the
steps still carrying his albino ferret.
A local worker, who asked not to be
named, said: ‘It was very non-threatening.
He looked homeless, sort of ill and was
carrying an albino ferret in a little cage. He
was very calm and sat there for a few min-
utes. He put the ferret down.
‘Next thing the police came skidding
around the corner and there were armed
police everywhere.
‘They removed a knife from his bag... it
had no blood on it. He had all sorts of
devices on him. They asked if he had men-
tal health problems. He said no. I didn’t
think anything of it when he first sat down.
Nothing he did suggested he had done
anything like stab someone.’
The man was arrested on suspicion of
GBH after the assault on Marsham Street
in Westminster. Detectives were keeping an
‘open mind’ about the motive for the
attack but it is not being treated as
terrorism-related.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Offic-
ers quickly detained a 29-year-old man,
near to the scene, Smith Square, who was
arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily
harm and possession of CS spray. He was
taken to a central London police station
where he remains in custody.’
The Home Secretary tweeted: ‘All my
thoughts are with the victim and their
family following horrific unprovoked knife
attack on Marsham Street.’
A spokesman for the Home Office said:
‘The victim is receiving medical care. This
is a deeply concerning incident and our
thoughts are with him and his family.’
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick
said: ‘I am deeply shocked by this horrific
attack on a colleague today.
‘My thoughts, and those of all my staff,
are with him and his family. We are ready
to provide as much support as we can and
we all wish him a speedy recovery. We will
be reviewing security across the MHCLG
estate. All our staff must feel safe as they
go about their important work.
‘I would like to give my heartfelt thanks
to the police, ambulance service and our
staff for their swift response today.’By Inderdeep Bains‘Police came skidding
around the corner’A TEENAGER has been arrested on suspi-
cion of murder after an 18-year-old man
was stabbed to death.
Police were called to reports of a
stabbing in a road of smart terraced
Victorian houses in Brixton, south-west
London, shortly before 2pm yesterday,
Scotland Yard said.
The 18-year-old man was found withknife injuries and was pronounced
dead at 2.41pm.
Last night the victim was named locally
as Solomon. His grieving family briefly
went to the scene to pay their respects.
A youth of 17 was arrested at 2.23pm in a
nearby road and taken into custody. Police
said inquiries were continuing and a post-
mortem examination will take place.Bloodied: The victim, with a gash
to his head, is helped by a medic.
Left, a sheathed knife was spotted
where the suspect was arrestedcame just days after Home Secretary Priti
Patel gave police more powers amid a
knife crime epidemic.
The victim, who works for the Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Govern-
ment (MHCLG), was taken to hospital
with injuries that were not life-threaten-
ing. Images of the aftermath of the stab-
bing showed the bloodied, topless man
being helped by a police officer and some-
one from the ambulance service.
A barista working opposite the Home
Office said of the victim: ‘He had just trou-
sers, nothing on top. He was full of blood.
He was escorted by police and paramed-
ics.’ A 29-year-old was arrested a few hun-
dred yards away at St John’s Smith Square
after calmly packing away his knife and
walking off, witnesses said.
Shaun Jones, 43, a property manager,
said: ‘I heard people screaming and peo-
ple were running away. He was pretty
much the only person there.
‘He was bending over packing things
away in his rucksack. It must have taken