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A man who tried to kill a uniformed Army officer in a knife attack outside his Barracks has been sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum of seven years and 162 days.
Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, Anthony Esan was sentenced to life imprisonment and will be detained in hospital “for as long as necessary” after stabbing the soldier multiple times.
Esan, 25, was detained by officers after he attempted to murder Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton in Sally Port Gardens, near Brompton Barracks, Chatham, on July 23, 2024.
During his arrest, Esan was heard to make references to "day of the devil" and "Enoch", telling officers his name is Esan which means "karma".
He was due to stand trial for the attack and possession of two bladed weapons this month, but pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.
Stabbing the uniformed soldier repeatedly, Esan was arrested by Kent Police near his home in Rochester about 25 minutes later.
There, the force found packaging for two Rambo knives in his bedroom.
During sentencing, the court was shown footage of Esan on his knees on the pavement, with his hands on his head, as two officers pointed tasers before one handcuffed him at 6.17pm.
Footage shows him beside his moped parked on the road which he used to travel to and from the attack which happened at 5.53pm.
The prosecution described the incident as a “vicious and deliberate” attack on the soldier, adding that in the lead up to the stabbing, Esan had bought a set of knives from Argos.
"I actually think it was a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it," Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton said in a victim impact statement.
Colonel Teeton required emergency surgery for serious injuries after being stabbed multiple times and was discharged from hospital after a recovery that was deemed a "miracle" by medics.
The court heard how Esan had also searched online for similar attacks, trawling TikTok for videos including the murdered soldier Lee Rigby.
Forensic psychiatrists told Maidstone Crown Court it is more likely that Esan set out to stab a soldier but that the main driver of his actions was psychosis.
Experts agreed he had schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
Sentencing him on Friday, Mr Justice Picken said: “The attack on Mr Teeton was targeted and deliberate.
“You were looking for a soldier with the intention that that soldier should die, as underlined by the fact you had looked up the killing of Lee Rigby on the internet.”
During sentencing, the court heard how then Lt Col Teeton tried to move away from Esan, he stabbed him again, the prosecutor said.
She said: “Witnesses who saw it, described it as harrowing and one of the worst things they’ve ever seen.”
Esan was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK in 2009 and 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.
Ms Morgan said that Esan made his first application to join the Army in 2020 but that this was rejected on May 27 of that year because of eczema and a nut allergy.
That same year, he had been referred to mental health services as he appeared to be mentally unwell and reported hearing voices.
Esan applied to the Army again on April 13 2021 but was rejected, with the medical reasons for rejection being “psychotic disorder” and eczema, Ms Morgan said.
He appealed against this decision but his appeal was rejected, and he began another application in June 2021, which was “abandoned”.
In March 2023, Esan began a further application to the Army, but he did not complete the process and withdrew his application for “health reasons”, the court heard.
Lt Col Teeton and his wife Eileen Teeton were in court and were due to read victim impact statements.
