Hainault stabbings: Police update on 'horrifically serious' injuries suffered by officers in sword attack

Police officers who responded to a sword attack in London suffered “horrifically serious injuries” – with one of them having been close to losing her hand, the head of the Metropolitan Police has said.

A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other people were injured in the attack in Hainault on Tuesday morning.

Police have said they don’t think it was a targeted attack, or terror-related, and they were working to establish the circumstances of what took place.

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Officers were initially called to the scene at 7am with footage showing police apprehending a man after he was tasered.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said officers “were on the ground in 12 minutes” and that “some of the first contacts led to officers being very severely injured”.

Speaking on LBC this morning, he added: “I was talking to the family and colleagues of the woman officer who has a really badly damaged arm, really seriously damaged, the surgeon spent many hours basically putting her arm back together.”

Asked about reports she nearly lost her hand in the attack, Sir Mark said they were “not a million miles away”.

An inspector also suffered a serious hand injury during the police response, with Sir Mark adding: “I saw him before the operation, he was in good spirits… I think that’s partly the morphine, to be honest.”

The two officers who required surgery are among the four people who were injured in the rampage.

The other two are members of the public whose injuries are also not thought to be life-threatening.

Sir Mark did not confirm whether the two officers in hospital were the ones seen tasering the attacker.

The Met chief added that the 36-year-old suspect was detained after 22 minutes.

Dramatic footage has shown the moment he was tasered on a driveway before several officers with batons approached him after he hit the ground.

The words “suspect contained” are eventually heard as a female officer pulls the sword away from the attacker.

Sir Mark said this morning: “People say officers run towards danger.

“What you’ve actually seen on some of the videos that are around social media and on news sites such as your own… you actually see what that really looks like. You’ve got officers running towards someone who’s waving a sword.”

Police have said the suspect crashed a van into a house near the Tube station in Hainault before stabbing a number of people.

The man has not yet been interviewed as he remains in hospital due to the injuries he suffered in the crash.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said there has been speculation about the suspect’s background, including police contact with him.

She said that “despite urgent and extensive checks today, we have found no trace of a prior incident involving him so far, but we will of course continue to make those inquiries”.

Eyewitnesses say man was ‘looking for victims’

James Fernando, someone who lives close to where the rampage took place, said the suspect had asked one of his neighbours to “take the telephone from him to tell whoever was on the phone his location”.

Mr Fernando added: “Within two seconds after that she’s realised something isn’t right, started running and he’s pulled a samurai sword from the back of his trousers.”

He saw the neighbour shout to warn a boy who was on his way to school – but the man attacked him.

“It’s quite traumatising now. I can’t stop envisioning the boy’s face,” Mr Fernando added.

Speaking about what he saw of the suspect, Mr Fernando said: “He was running around, still after the police officers came, with the sword in his hand looking for victims.”

Another witness, who asked not to be named, said he heard shrieks and screams during the rampage.

He said he saw a man dressed in yellow jumping over fences from his back window and heard someone shout: “He’s got a massive knife”.

Footage also shows a man in a yellow jumper chasing after an ambulance while holding a sword as a body lies motionless on the ground.

The home security video shows an ambulance parked next to the body lying on the road in Laing Close before the ambulance quickly drives away from the scene and the man runs after it, shouting.

In another video clip, sent by an anonymous resident, a police car arrives before the man verbally confronts the police and shouts “Is there anybody here who believes in God?” while standing next to the motionless body.

A voice is heard shouting “Drop the sword” before a police officer approaches the man and sprays a substance in his direction before he retreats.