Army officer told wife attack was ‘like Lee Rigby’, court hears

A uniformed Army officer repeatedly stabbed in the street outside his home told his wife in hospital that his attacker tried to “cut my head off like Lee Rigby”, a court has heard.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton tearfully told of being “forever in gratitude” to the “heroes”, including his wife Eileen, who came to his aid during the attack in Sally Port Gardens, near Brompton Barracks, Chatham, on July 23 2024.

He told Maidstone Crown Court of his relief of still being alive on Monday as his attacker Anthony Esan is set to be sentenced for his attempted murder.

Esan, 25, was due to stand trial for the attack and possession of two bladed weapons this month, but instead pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.

On the first day of the sentencing, which is expected to last three days, Lt Col Teeton, a serving officer in the British Army for 26 years who has been on two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan, said the attack has left him “wary” of others approaching him.

Fighting back tears, he went on: “I still relive the incident in my mind; I actually think it is a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it as it means that I am unable to remember a large part of being attacked.

“I don’t think I will truly appreciate the courage shown by my wife and strangers to thwart the attack and then the quick thinking of an array of people that helped save my life.

“They are all heroes, and I am forever in gratitude to them.”

Lt Col Teeton said he was told by medical staff it was a “miracle” that he survived the attack having been left with a very large wound to the right side of his neck and further stab wounds to the front and back of his chest, front and back of his abdomen, left side of his lower abdomen, right groin, right upper arm and left thigh.

He added: “I did not imagine for a moment that I would be attacked in such a way on the streets of Britain, in a place where I felt safe.”

Mrs Teeton also stared down at Esan in court as she recalled how she rushed to help a solider lying on the ground before realising it was her husband.

“I watched horrified by his continued savage attack, and realised it was my husband on the ground and he was carving at his face and neck,” she said.

In her victim impact statement, Mrs Teeton said when visiting her husband in hospital, he said: “Do the people at work know what he tried to do to me?”

She asked him what did he try to do, and he replied: “Cut my head off! Like Lee Rigby.”

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court it was a “vicious and deliberate” attack and the prosecution’s case is that Lt Col Teeton, a chief instructor at the British Army’s school of military engineering, was targeted because of his appearance as a solider.

Leading up to the attack, Esan had began online searches including for knives and about a terrorist attack that happened in West Africa, and TikTok videos of knife attacks in other countries.

On July 16, he also searched “Woolwich soldier murdered” on the internet, which Ms Morgan said was plainly a reference to the attack on Lee Rigby in 2013.

The 25-year-old off-duty soldier had been killed in broad daylight by extremists near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London.

Lt Col Teeton was stabbed repeatedly in the street outside his home address, and was dressed in an Army uniform, boots and beret at the time.

He was seen on footage walking home from the barracks at 5.50pm before he then engaged with Esan at 5.53pm.

Ms Morgan said he recalled Esan asking him if he could use his phone because his moped had broken down and he needed to call someone to come and help.

“It’s obviously a lie. It’s a lie which gives him the ability to disarm, to disarm by distraction Mr Teeton,” Ms Morgan said.

“Mr Teeton said at that point he was concerned the defendant was going to try and steal his mobile phone and he said he would put the defendant’s number into his own telephone.

“When he went to do that… he was distracted, and that’s when the attack on him began.”

Footage from a car shows the attack in the middle of the road with Esan stabbing Lt Col Teeton, who gets up and walks the other way, and Esan going after him and continuing his attack.

Esan used two knives to inflict multiple stab wounds on Lt Col Teeton.

Ms Morgan said: “Witnesses who saw it described it as harrowing and one of the worst things they’ve ever seen.”

Esan was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK in 2009 and lived in the Southwark area of London, the court heard.

He had made several unsuccessful attempts to join the British Army in the years before his attack.

Ms Morgan said that Esan made his first application to join the Army in 2020 but that this was rejected on May 27 of that year because of eczema and a nut allergy.

That same year, he had been referred to mental health services as he appeared to be mentally unwell and reported hearing voices.

Esan applied to the Army again on April 13 2021 but was rejected, with the medical reasons for rejection being “psychotic disorder” and eczema, Ms Morgan said.

He appealed against this decision but his appeal was rejected, and he began another application in June 2021, which was “abandoned”.

In March 2023, Esan began a further application to the Army, but he did not complete the process and withdrew his application for “health reasons”, the court heard.

The sentencing continues.