Officers stabbed, slashed, and bitten in butcher's shop knife frenzy get bravery award

 
1/3
27 March 2013

Four police officers attacked by a schizophrenic wielding a 12-inch knife have received awards for bravery.

Three of the men were stabbed tackling Christopher Haughton in a butcher’s shop in Kingsbury, and the other, Pc Stephen Barker, 30, was bitten.

Pc Tom Harding, 27, narrowly escaped with his life after he was stabbed several times in the stomach and chest, and later needed nine inches of intestine removed. Pc Alistair Hinchliff, 30, was slashed across the face and Pc Andy Robb, 39, was knifed in the leg.

All four were among 21 officers and members of the public who received the bravery awards from Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Haughton was convicted of attempting to kill two police officers during the attack in 2011 and ordered to be detained without limit in Broadmoor. Pc Harding said: “I owe my life to the bravery of my colleagues. I cannot praise them enough for their courage in what was a harrowing ordeal. I believe they represent the finest officers of the police service.”

More stories:

Two other police constables, Wayne Stevens, 31, and Mike Sheather, 46, were also honoured for their bravery after being shot at as they chased a gunman in south Croydon in July 2011.

The officers caught two suspects and pursued a third. The man, later identified as Damian Devine, a gun-obsessed gangster, turned and fired two shots at Pc Stevens from a 9mm handgun, one of the bullets hitting him in the arm.

Pc Sheather and his police dog “Boz” checked his colleague was okay and continued the chase. Devine was tracked down later and jailed for 24 years for attempted murder.

A Royal Humane Society award was presented to former Detective Chief Superintendent Susan Hill, who has since retired, and Sergeant Pippa Wilson, 34, after they commandeered a “cherry picker” to save the life of a man who was threatening to jump from a building in Piccadilly Circus. Sir Bernard, speaking at the awards ceremony yesterday, said: “These officers are all outstanding and I am very proud of what they do and have done for the Metropolitan Police.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in