A KNIFEMAN who stabbed a soldier outside his home and “tried to cut his head off” had researched the murder of Lee Rigby.
Anthony Esan pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Lt Col Mark Teeton outside his barracks in Gillingham, Kent, in July 2024.
In the aftermath of the attack, Mark spoke of his relief at still being alive after his attacker tried to “cut my head off like Lee Rigby“.
Esan, who was wielding two ten-inch blades, had ambushed the uniformed dad-of-two near Brompton Barracks.
The 25-year-old attacker was due to stand trial for the stabbing and possession of two bladed weapons, but pleaded guilty in January.
Maidstone Crown Court heard it was a “miracle” that Lt Col Teeton – a serving officer in the British Army for 26 years – survived the stabbing.
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Speaking in court, Mark said: “I still relive the incident in my mind; I actually think it is a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it.
“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…
“… 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.”
Leading up to the attack, Esan had searched online for knives and about a terrorist attack in West Africa.
He also searched “Woolwich soldier murdered” on the internet, which the court heard was a reference to the attack on Lee Rigby in 2013.
Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, was a drummer in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Lee was returning to Woolwich barracks after working at the Tower of London when he was spotted by his killers.
Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale had circled the barracks in a blue Vauxhall Tigra for an hour hunting for a victim.
As Lee crossed the road, the pair spotted his Help 4 Heroes hoodie and mowed him down in the car.
The killers then leapt out of the vehicle and began stabbing and hacking at Lee’s body with knives.
Lt Col Teeton was himself stabbed repeatedly in the street outside his home address, and was dressed in an Army uniform, boots and beret.
The solider suffered a very large wound to his neck and further stab wounds to his chest, abdomen, groin, right 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.”
And in her victim impact statement, Mrs Teeton described visiting her husband in hospital after the horror attack.
She told the court that he said to her: “Do the people at work know what he tried to do to me?”
When she asked what he tried to do, Lt Col Teeton replied: “Cut my head off. Like Lee Rigby.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court it was a “vicious and targeted” attack on Lt Col Teeton because of his appearance as a solider.
He was seen on footage walking home from the barracks at 5.50pm, before encountering Esan minutes later.
Lt Col Teeton remembers Esan asking him if he could use his phone because his moped had broken down and he needed to call someone.
Ms Morgan said: “It’s obviously a lie. It’s a lie which gives him the ability to disarm, to disarm by distraction Mr Teeton.
“Mr Teeton said at that point he was concerned the defendant was going to try and steal his mobile phone.
“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 nearby car shows the “harrowing” broad daylight attack unfolding in the middle of the road.
Esan stabs Lt Col Teeton, who gets up and walks the other way, before Esan goes after him and continues his attack.
Ms Morgan said: “Witnesses who saw it described it as harrowing and one of the worst things they’ve ever seen.”
The court heard Esan was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK in 2009.
He had made several unsuccessful attempts to join the British Army in the years prior to his attack.
The sentencing continues.
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