Knifeman, 30, who charged at an armed police officer is cleared of GBH

Knifeman, 30, who googled ‘I hate Britain’ and charged at an armed police officer in Horse Guards Parade is cleared of GBH by jury after he told them he only wanted ‘to get shot’

  • A suicidal knifeman wanted to be killed by police when he brandished a knife
  • Prashanth Kandhaiah came within seconds of being shot dead at Easter Monday
  • The 30-year-old wanted the officers to kill him and ‘was not trying to harm them’
  • He was cleared of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm by crown court jury 
  • Kandhaiah pleaded guilty to having a knife and threatening a person with a blade
  • For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit local Samaritans 

A suicidal knifeman who googled ‘I hate Britain’ and charged at Ministry of Defence officers in Horse Guards Parade has been cleared of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm after he told them he only wanted ‘to get shot’.

Prashanth Kandhaiah came within seconds of being shot dead at the ceremonial parade ground in St James Park on Easter Monday, April 18.

The 30-year-old sprinted towards Ministry of Defence PCs Ravinder Digpaul and Ryan Pariso in the tiltyard of the parade ground, off Whitehall, central London, brandishing a five-inch kitchen knife.

PC Digpaul moved to bring his MP7 carbine rifle into position and changed the safety to fire but lost his footing while being chased.

While on the ground, he kicked out at Kandhaiah and readied his Glock pistol to fire before his colleague Tasered the knifeman, who said: ‘Please shoot me.’

Prashanth Kandhaiah, 30, came within seconds of being shot dead at the ceremonial parade ground in St James Park on Easter Monday, April 18. Pictured, the scene outside the Horse Guards building

PC Digpaul told Southwark Crown Court: ‘I felt, if he had been able to get past my legs, I believe he would’ve either seriously injured me or killed me.’

The day before, Kandhaiah had searched online for the 2019 London Bridge terror attack — when Usman Khan was shot dead by police after stabbing to death Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23.

Giving evidence, Kandhaiah, from Thamesmead, told jurors he was not a ‘terrorist’, adding: ‘I didn’t go there to stab an officer. I went there to get shot.’

After just over an hour of deliberating on Thursday, jurors acquitted him to attempting to commit grievous bodily harm.

During the trial, the jury was not told Kandhaiah had already pleaded guilty to having a knife and threatening another person with a blade.

Judge Adam Hiddleston remanded him in custody at HMP Wandsworth ahead of sentencing on December 9.

Kandhaiah had made at least four attempts to kill himself and told doctors of his suicide-by-police plan as far ago as October 2020, the court was told.

On the day of the incident he had sent one of his children a message saying: ‘Goodbye, love you. Daddy.’ 

He had also googled terms including ‘rat poison can kill people’, ‘I hate Britain’ and ‘police’, prosecutor Suki Dhadda said.

Kandhaiah, dressed in two pairs of tracksuit bottoms and four jackets, arrived at Whitehall on his electric bike before the attack, which was caught on CCTV footage played in court.

It showed him waiting for several minutes on Whitehall Road before suddenly running through the gates to the courtyard. 

‘He then chose his moment and took a knife out of his jacket pocket and ran directly towards the officers, PC Digpaul and PC Pariso,’ said prosecutor Sukhwinder Dhadda.

‘He had asked the officers to shoot him. He pleaded with officers to listen to him when he said he wanted them to shoot him.’

PC Digpaul said the defendant had ‘quite an angry look on his face’ when he ran towards him and his colleague.

‘I couldn’t think what his actions were other than to attack us and try to kill us,’ he said.

CCTV footage showed Kandhaiah waiting for several minutes on Whitehall Road before suddenly running through the gates to the courtyard. Pictured, the scene in Westminster after Kandhaiah was arrested

‘I was pretty scared seeing the blade and how quickly he was running towards us.’

The officer said he had readied his firearm but lost his footing when he tried to create distance between him and the alleged attacker.

‘At this point I was scared for my life. I wasn’t sure what he was capable of; if he had any other weapons,’ he said.

PC Digpaul told jurors he felt ‘very vulnerable’ and ‘scared’ and was ‘trying to do anything I can, really, to avoid being stabbed’.

‘He had followed me behind the pillar, following me exactly where I was going. The knife was still in his hand, trying to stab me,’ PC Digpaul said.

In body-worn camera footage, PC Pariso can be heard ordering Kandhaiah to ‘get down’ and ‘stay down’ while the knifeman is screaming before asking officers to ‘shoot me’.

When PC Pariso deployed his taser both probes hit Kandhaiah causing him to fall to the floor. 

Kandhaiah told jurors: ‘I thought as soon as they saw me they would shoot me. It’s central London so they take it very seriously.

‘I thought they wouldn’t play around.’ 

After the incident Kandhaiah said: ‘You lot are monsters. Why didn’t you shoot me?’

He was interviewed at 11.18pm that evening where he told police officers that he worked for Ocado and was being controlled by a machine.

Kandhaiah, of Thamesmead, southeast London, denied attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and was cleared of the charge.

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit local Samaritans

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