A man who killed a 14-year-old boy last April as part of a 20-minute sword rampage through residential streets in London was given a life sentence on Friday.
Footage showed Marcos Arduini Monzo, the man, shouting, “Is anybody here who believes in God?” and attacking police officers after killing the boy, who was walking to school.
Daniel Anjorin, the murdered boy, was killed yards away from his family home in Hainault, in northeast London, and was found, still wearing his school backpack, in the street by his father.
During the course of his rampage in the early morning of April 30, 2024, Mr. Monzo, 37, attacked several other people, including two police officers. He was convicted of murder and attempted murder, along with other offenses committed during the outbreak. On Friday, during a televised sentencing hearing, he was given a life sentence, with a minimum prison term of 40 years before he can be considered for parole.
“Over 20 minutes, a peaceful, busy scene was devastated as members of the public were attacked, police officers were gravely injured, a couple were terrified in their own home, and a clever, talented, much-loved young boy was killed by a savage blow with a sword,” Judge Joel Bennathan said during the sentencing.
Mr. Monzo began his violence shortly after 7 a.m., when he was driving a van and struck a man who was walking to work. Mr. Monzo then got out of the van and attacked him with a large samurai sword.
After the injured victim was able to escape, Mr. Monzo ran up to Daniel Anjorin and attacked him from behind, the Metropolitan Police said. When an ambulance arrived on the scene, Mr. Monzo hit the vehicle with his sword, and then refused to drop his weapon when told to do so by police officers.
Police do not routinely carry firearms in Britain, and those at the scene were carrying batons and Tasers. Officers chased Mr. Monzo when he ran down an alleyway, but he turned and attacked a female officer, fracturing her skull.
He then entered a house and attacked a couple, who had been sleeping near their 4-year-old daughter. The father defended his wife with his arm, which was deeply cut, and Mr. Monzo left after the girl started crying.
Mr. Monzo was then cornered near a garage. A police officer fought him with a baton before Mr. Monzo was subdued with Tasers.
While Mr. Monzo had voiced support for a number of extremist positions on social media — including admiration for Adolf Hitler and belief in flat-Earth conspiracy theories — prosecutors did not say they believed he had any political motive for the attack. Instead, he was experiencing cannabis-induced psychosis at the time, and had killed and tried to eat his pet cat earlier that morning, prosecutors told his trial at London’s Old Bailey court.
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