Anthony Esan, 25, searched online about the murder of soldier Lee Rigby and bought a set of knives from Argos before the savage assault on uniformed soldier Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton
A man who launched a savage knife attack on an army soldier will be detained “for as long as necessary”.
The judge, Mr Justice Picken, said Anthony Esan, 25, was sentenced to life imprisonment for a minimum of 7 years and 162 days, however he will be detained at Broadmoor Hospital for “as long as necessary”. The judge said Esan is unlikely to ever be released into the community.
Esan was sentenced to life in prison at Maidstone Crown Court today after the trial heard how he repeatedly stabbed Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton using two knives near a barracks in Kent. Lt Col Teeton was left with a very large wound to the right side of his neck and further stab wounds to the front and back of his chest, front and back of his abdomen, left side of his lower abdomen, right groin, right upper arm and left thigh.
The trial was told Esan searched online for attacks, including of murdered soldier Lee Rigby, and purchased a set of knives from Argos days before the attack. “You were looking for a soldier with the intention that that soldier should die,” judge Mr Justice Picken told him today.
Throughout the sentencing proceedings Esan appeared in the dock flanked by five staff from Broadmoor alongside a custody guard. Three experts agreed that he was suffering from schizophrenia now and at the time of the attack when he went looking for a soldier to stab.
The court heard he made references to the “day of the devil”, and told officers his name was Esan, which meant “karma”, when he was arrested.
Dad-of-two Lt Col Teeton told the court how medics said it was a “miracle” he survived the frenzied knife attack at Sally Port Gardens, near Brompton Barracks, Chatham, on July 23 2024. Asked what his attacker was trying to do, he said: “Cut off my head. Like Lee Rigby.”
The army engineer had been in uniform at the time of the attack. The court heard how his wife Eileen rushed to the scene outside the family home after spotting a soldier lying on the ground, before realising it was her husband who was the victim.
Lt Col Teeton tearfully told the court that he is “forever in gratitude” to the “heroes”, including his wife, who came to his aid that day, and how medical staff told him it was a “miracle” he survived.
A chief instructor at the British Army’s Royal School of Military Engineering, Lt Col Teeton was targeted in the “vicious and deliberate” attack because of his appearance as a soldier, the prosecution said. The officer has served in the British Army for 26 years and completed two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan.
“I still relive the incident in my mind; I actually think it is a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it as it means that I am unable to remember a large part of being attacked,” he told the court.
“I don’t think I will truly appreciate the courage shown by my wife and strangers to thwart the attack and then 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.”
Experts said Esan had schizophrenia at the time of the attack. Forensic psychiatrists told the court it is more likely that Esan set out to stab a soldier but that the main driver of his actions was psychosis. He has been receiving treatment in Broadmoor Hospital, but the court heard Esan remains psychotic and will have to be treated for the rest of his life.
Esan, of Mooring Road, Rochester, pleaded guilty to the attack and possession of two bladed weapons in January.
Mrs Teeton said when visiting her husband in hospital, he said: “Do the people at work know what he tried to do to me?” She asked him what did he try to do, and he replied: “Cut my head off! Like Lee Rigby.”
Off-duty soldier Rigby, 25, was killed in broad daylight by extremists near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London.
Esan was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK in 2009. He lived in the Southwark area of London, the court heard. He had made several unsuccessful attempts to join the British Army in the years before his attack, starting in 2000.
That same year, he had been referred to mental health services as he appeared to be mentally unwell and reported hearing voices. The court heard that in January 2023, Esan’s mother had contacted an out-of-hours service concerned that he had knives in his bag.
