By Desire Emmanuel with Agency Reports
A Nigerian living in the United Kingdom man who repeatedly stabbed a uniformed army officer with two knives was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of seven years and 162 days.
Anthony Esan, aged 25, who was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and possessing two bladed weapons in January, Sky News reported on Friday.
The judge said that Esan – who experts agreed had schizophrenia at the time of the attack – would be detained on hospital bed where he is receiving treatment for as long as necessary.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton, who was targeted in the street near Brompton Barracks in Chatham, Kent, in July 2024, told the three-day sentencing hearing he was grateful to be alive.
The assault left him with a large wound to the right side of his neck, stab wounds to the front and back of his chest and abdomen, his lower abdomen, right groin, right upper arm and left thigh.
Sentencing Esan, Mr Justice Picken said: “The attack on Mr Teeton was targeted and deliberate.
“You were looking for a soldier with the intention that that soldier should die, as underlined by the fact you had looked up the killing of Lee Rigby on the internet.”
The judge added that Esan’s schizophrenia did not absolve him of responsibility for his crime.
He said: “The psychotic disorder is part of the context for the attack but it is not the entire context, since the context also includes the fact that you targeted Mr Teeton, and that you did so having carried out searches in relation to other knife attacks, including most notably the killing of Lee Rigby, another soldier.”
Speaking outside the court, Lt Col Teeton said: “We welcome the sentence that has been handed to my attacker today as it reflects an incredible bank of evidence gathered by the police and presented by our barrister of the premeditation and planning involved in the attack against myself, an officer wearing British military uniform.
“Knife attacks do not just impact the victim, they impact the families and communities where attacks occur.
“We feel the pain caused by every knife attack that we see on the news, and our thoughts will always be with those affected.”
The soldier, a serving officer of 26 years experience, who has been on two tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, praised those who helped him, including his wife Eileen, for their “courage.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan described Esan’s 2024 attack “vicious and deliberate,” and told the court that Teeton had been targeted because of his appearance as a soldier.
In the lead up to the attack, Esan had conducted online searches on knives, a terrorist attack that happened in West Africa and searched “Woolwich soldier murdered”, which Ms Morgan said was a reference to the 2013 attack.
Ms Morgan said Esan had asked Lt Col Teeton if he could borrow his phone because his moped had broken down and he needed to call for assistance.
When Lt Col Teeton was distracted, Esan used two knives to inflict multiple stab wounds.
