Man jailed after attempting to attack police officers

A man who attempted to attack two Ministry of Defence police officers with a knife in a failed suicide attempt has been jailed.

Prashanth Kandhaiah, 30 (15.10.92) of Mellion Close, SE28 was found guilty of threatening with an offensive weapon and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, 9 February.

The court heard, at around 08:50hrs on Monday, 18 April, Kandhaiah, who was armed with a knife, confronted two Ministry of Defence Police officers in Horse Guards Parade.

One of the officers managed to deploy his Taser and other MOD officers managed to restrain and disarm Kandhaiah.

Shortly after he was arrested, Kandhaiah asked the officers: “why didn’t you shoot me?” In custody, he then made comments towards officers stating: “I thought if you tried to stab an officer they were meant to shoot you.”

Met detectives searched his home address and found kitchen knives that were the same make of the knife used to threaten the officers. Kandhaiah’s mobile phone was seized and it revealed a map giving directions to the location of the attack. There was also messages from Kandhaiah saying ‘Goodbye’.

Kandhaiah told detectives in interview that he suffers from mental health problems including schizophrenia. He said he had travelled to central London with the knife in order to be shot by police.

Detective Constable Tobias Hussey, the investigating officer, said: “This was an incredibly frightening incident for the Ministry of Defence officers involved, who would have believed they were under attack by someone attempting to seriously injure them.

“They both showed incredible bravery and restraint to disarm Kandhaiah with the use of Taser. It is clear this incident could easily have resulted in a different outcome for all parties involved.”