Met Police officers up for bravery award after West End stabbing

Armed robber Mohamed Rahman stabbed PC Joseph Gerrard in the neck and chest, and PC Alannah Mulhall in the arm after a police chase through Leicester Square. 

Both officers have now been put up for a Police Federation Bravery Award.

Early on September 16, 2022, a member of the public told police the 25-year-old mugger had showed him a knife before taking his phone powerbank in Shaftesbury Avenue.  

As the officers chased him, Rahman stabbed both PC Mulhall and PC Gerrard with a kitchen knife and inflicted a cut to PC Richard Ulla’s finger. 

Mohamed Rahman (Image: Met Police)In October last year Rahman, of Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, was convicted of the attempted murder of PC Gerrard and grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent against PC Mulhall.  

He was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against PC Ulla, two counts of threatening two other officers in a public place with a bladed article, and possession of a bladed article. 

Rahman was further found guilty of robbing Mr Graven. 

He was given a minimum term of 20 years, minus the 449 days he has already spent on remand.  

PC Gerrard said in a statement made in February, read by the prosecution in court, that he was “in agony every single day” for months and that his life had come to a “complete standstill”.  

In a statement he made in September, the officer said he is still not back to “zero pain”.  

He said: “It has been an uphill struggle to get myself free from injury.  

“It has been a long, frustrating year. My life has been on hold. I’m sick and tired of how long rehabilitation is taking.”  

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Mohamed Rahman during his sentencing at Kingston Crown Court (Image: PA)PC Mulhall read two statements out in court, the first made in February, in which she said: “It was a terrifying incident to be part of and will forever scar me mentally and physically.”  

She told the court how she moved back to her parents’ house and “essentially became an infant again”.  

“After the incident I cried for 96 days in a row,” she said.  

She told of how she felt “a lot of guilt” over the fact that she pushed the emergency button that triggered other officers’ involvement in the incident, including PC Gerrard.  

“I thought PC Gerrard was going to die that morning and this is a thought that will haunt me for the rest of my life,” PC Mulhall said.  

In her September statement, made just over a year after the incident, she said: “The Alannah I knew died that morning and in her place now is a girl I don’t recognise.”  

She looked at and addressed Rahman sitting in the dock, telling him how he has “taken so much away from me”. 

Chris Henley KC, defending, told the court his client had been going through a “mental health crisis” and had become “increasingly paranoid” in the days leading up to the incident.  

The court heard Rahman came into contact with police three days before the incident, following reports that he was feeling suicidal, after which he spent days living on the streets.  

Rahman, wearing a white skull cap and blue robe, wrote a letter of apology that was read out by his barrister in court.  

He said he wished he could go back and change what happened, adding: “I feel extremely guilty for what I have done.”  

He called his actions “out of character”, labelled himself a non-violent person and insisted it was “never” his intention to hurt anyone.  

Rahman also said he had “nothing against the police”.