Lawyer says heroic police officer should be disciplined for saving his life with a Taser during vicious machete attack as maniac is jailed for 16 years
- Solicitor Sophie Khan argued the convicted criminal acted in ‘self defence’
- She also accused PC Stuart Outten, 29, who was injured, of ‘excessive force’
- Muhammad Rodwan, 56, jailed for 16 years after weilding a machete at officer
A lawyer was condemned for her ‘despicable’ suggestion yesterday that a heroic police officer should be disciplined for saving his life with a Taser during a vicious machete attack.
The row erupted as smirking Muhammad Rodwan, 56, was jailed for 16 years for attacking PC Stuart Outten after he stopped his white van because it was not insured.
The 29-year-old victim, later dubbed Britain’s bravest policeman, survived the onslaught last August only by firing his Taser twice at the homeless driver.
Muhammad Rodwan (left), fractured the skull of PC Stuart Outten (right) when he pulled him over for driving without insurance
Solicitor Sophie Khan has defended the convicted criminal, saying he acted in ‘self defence’ in the face of ‘excessive force’ from the police officer
PC Outten had fallen to the ground as Rodwan came ‘in for the kill’ with a 2ft rusty blade. The thug was acquitted of attempted murder on Thursday and convicted of a lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after jurors were not told about his violent past.
The trial judge ruled that evidence about a ‘strikingly similar’ machete attack by Rodwan on two men in 1996 and other convictions for rape and drugs should not go before jurors due to the length of time since the offence.
But yesterday solicitor Sophie Khan, who has represented people injured by Taserw and campaigns against excessive use of the weapon, defended the convicted criminal by saying he acted in ‘self defence’ in the face of ‘excessive force’ from PC Outten.
She wrote on Twitter she was surprised the Metropolitan Police ‘haven’t started disciplinary action against PC Outten for assault and battery on Muhammad Rodwan’.
She added the officer’s actions ‘were in part found to be an excessive use of force’ and that the case had shown ‘there remains a risk to public by police misuse of Taser’.
PC Outten suffered six severe head wounds and a court heard he could have died had he not bravely fired off his Taser in a bid to disarm Rodwan
Video captured Rodwan swinging the blade at PC Outten’s head, fracturing his skull and leaving him with six severe head wounds
Bleeding heavily from deep gashes to the head, broken fingers and a wound to the arm, PC Outten shouted at a passerby to pass his radio so he could call for help
Her criticism of the victim provoked outrage yesterday as Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said: ‘This police officer stopped a man lawfully and politely asked him to get out of the vehicle because he did not have insurance.
‘He responded by getting out a machete and brutally attacking him and my colleague very nearly lost his life. If it wasn’t for that Taser, he would have died.
‘These comments are utterly despicable – she is not only inciting violence, but she is condemning a hero who detained a dangerous offender while he was fighting for his life.’
Mrs Justice Carr, sitting at the Old Bailey yesterday, rejected the notion that PC Outten had used excessive force, describing how ‘arrogant’ Rodwan flew into a rage when he was stopped by police for having no insurance in Leyton, East London, on August 7.
The judge told the criminal: ‘This was a brutal and shocking attack. I reject the unattractive submission that [PC Outten] was using excessive force in circumstances when you had assaulted him and forcibly resisted arrest.’
Pictured: The machete used by Rodwan to fracture PC Stuart Outten’s skull during a sustained assault in east London
Shown left are the injuries suffered by PC Outten, while a photograph from inside Rodwan’s van shows dreadlocks lying on the floor
PC Outten is pictured recovering in hospital (left), while another image shows defensive wounds to his arm (right)
She praised the officer’s ‘presence of mind and fortitude’ in tasering his attacker. Footage from his body-worn video shows PC Outten fighting for his life after Rodwan stabbed him repeatedly, fracturing his skull.
Bleeding from six gashes to the head and one to the arm, the officer tasered Rodwan twice and brought him to the ground just as he prepared to strike again.
The judge told Rodwan, who had claimed he was acting in self-defence: ‘I detect not a shred of remorse or insight on your part but rather belligerent arrogance.’
She ordered him to serve at least two thirds of his 16-year sentence, with a further three years on extended licence.