Posted on 06/30/2025 5:04:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A police officer who confronted sword killer Marcus Monzo after he murdered 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin in east London has praised his ‘undoubtedly heroic’ colleagues for stopping Monzo’s rampage.
Inspector Moloy Campbell’s hand was sliced open by Monzo’s blade while attempting to bring him down with pepper spray and a baton on April 30 last year.
Monzo, 37, who was convicted of murder this week, had nearly decapitated Daniel, attacked a couple in their home and repeatedly slashed first-responder PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield.
Inspector Campbell and his sergeant drove to the scene after the injured officer’s colleague radioed for help.
He said: ‘As we were heading to the incident my sergeant was driving and I was in the operator seat.
‘As we heard that transmission, “police officer stabbed, police officer stabbed”, I turned to him and said: “Just get us there, don’t speed up, don’t let red mist get to you. We need to get there and get control of this incident”.’
Inspector Campbell confronted Monzo in a car park and ran at him with his baton drawn, a scene captured by police bodycam.
He continued: ‘There was no time for fear. That is not a reflection of bravery of me or anyone else, it’s a fact, there was no time for that.
‘There is a job to be done and there was an objective that needed to be met and that was, as I say, the preservation of life.
‘At that point there was no help coming. Armed police were coming but they were 10, 15 minutes away and that’s far too long in that situation.
‘That’s not the fault of my colleagues, it’s just the way it played out on that morning.
‘It was a case of doing what I thought needed to be done. It was a decision of do we contain the defendant or do we confront.
‘The decision was to confront because I felt had we done anything else then more members of the public and potentially police officers would have been seriously injured or worse.’
Inspector Campbell described how Monzo slashed at him with the sword, splitting his hand so wide open that his thumb was ‘hanging down’ and he could see the inside of his flesh.
He then withdrew while colleagues, who had just arrived, applied a tourniquet and attempted to rejoin the fray before going into shock.
The other officers then managed to bring Monzo down using tasers.
Inspector Campbell has said he does not see himself as a hero but said otherwise about his team, who ‘did what we do every day’.
He added: ‘I think to describe yourself as a hero would be slightly distasteful. I think they know what I think of them in terms of whether they are a hero or not.
‘I’m proud of them every day and they needed no supervision nor direction to chase down a man with a sword. That should speak volumes.
‘But right now as I speak there is probably a police officer somewhere in the country chasing someone with a knife or something else.
‘What we saw in Hainault was extraordinary circumstances in the way it turned out but it’s not unusual to have someone running round with a knife at 7am. It’s not unusual at all.
‘They regularly turn out from parade and go on blue lights having been asleep two hours ago and switch into that mode.’
Witnesses described Monzo dropping to his knees with both arms raised while screaming ‘in delight’ after killing Daniel.
He claimed he was in the grip of a psychotic episode which made him believe an event ‘like Armageddon’ was happening, and had no memory of events after leaving home.
The court heard he had fallen into heavy use of cannabis and psychedelic drugs and followed spiritualist beliefs which led him to start drinking his urine and washing himself with it.
A dual Spanish-Brazilian national who grew up in Brazil and moved to the UK a decade ago, he had fallen out with his family over his habits and ended up living in Newham.
Shortly before the murder, jurors heard, he killed and cooked his pet cat Wizard believing he was ‘was being used against me by negative forces’.
He said he was going to eat Wizard but decided ‘the world was collapsing’, packed some clothes, his swords and a bell-bearing gun and headed out.
Monzo is due to be sentenced at a hearing later today.
a pistol would have ended it right then and there. Oh yeah, in England the police don’t have firearms! Idiots!
If the cop had a gun you could save all that money spent on a trial, funerals are cheaper.
“Armed police were coming but they were 10, 15 minutes away and that’s far too long in that situation.”
And will the Brits learn from this and make any substantive policy changes?
Of course not.
L
He should have stopped firing immediately after he emptied the first extended magazine.
Exactly.
Their loss.
Obviously.
Why can’t cops carry small 12 inch solid swords? Or gladiator like nets? How about 100% capsaicin spray with high pressure nozzle? A 3 foot rope would help...faster than handcuffs. Trained in judo, tae kwan do, boxing, and muy thai? There should be no out of shape, poorly prepared cops.
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been equal in stature to the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for valour. It is awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger"
If only Britain would ban knives and swords and things like that. Then crimes like this couldn’t happen.
Even an old medieval crossbow would have been better.
Or one of those wrist crossbows...just make it super high tech...well trained cop would have snagged this creep purronto.
Exactly!
It’s times like this that I am sure that they wished that they still had the death penalty.
It is a point of pride for English, Welsh, and Scottish police that they have been able to keep the peace without carrying firearms for over 200 years. Even when firearms were freely available in the UK, the police did not carry them. They won’t give that tradition up unless forced by circumstances beyond their control.
Fine. A stout quarterstaff. A pike. A longbow. Borrow up some PR-24 from Stateside, at least that way there’s a good chance of stopping the first swipe and closing.
A 2’ baton is really pushing his luck. He’s done well to still be breathing.
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