Shortly after 11:00hrs on Sunday, 3 January, police in Islington were called to reports of a man with a machete in Avenell Road, N5.
PC Hodgson and PC Field were first on scene and confronted the suspect who was shouting in an aggressive manner and waving what appeared to be a large weapon.
Unaware of what other weapons he may have, both officers worked to detain the suspect and bring him to the ground. The man violently resisted and required two sets of handcuffs to be subdued.
Once detained both officers spotted a number of coloured electrical wires protruding from the suspect’s jacket suggesting he was wearing a suicide vest.
Mindful they were in a densely populated area very close to the Arsenal Emirates stadium, the officers heroically acted on what they believed to be imminent danger. They made the selfless decision to tightly hug the suspect to prevent his movement from triggering the suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
PC Pullen then arrived on scene and using his past military experience carefully searched the male. Following an initial assessment, PC Pullen used his expertise to deconstruct parts of a circuit board and metal plates attached to electrical wires within the suspect’s jacket. This was later found to be a non-viable device. The suspect had mental health problems and had strapped phones to himself in an intricate manner.
Fast time decision-making and the courageous actions of these officers resulted in the safe detention and arrest of the suspect. Explosives officers and armed police arrived on scene shortly after and were it not for the actions of the Islington officers, they would have had to engage the suspect who presented every visual indication of a terrorist threat.