Senior Army officer stabbed ’12 times’ outside his home ‘may have known brother of masked motorbike knifeman’
A SENIOR Army officer stabbed outside his home was saved by his wife who challenge the attacker as he brandished two huge kitchen knives.
Lt Col Mark Teeton suffered “at least 12 wounds” when the man leapt off a motorbike near his barracks.
Witnesses described a “blood-curdling scream” and told how the attacker, in ski mask and £100 Nasa-branded bomber jacket, licked blood off a knife before dumping it and riding away on the Honda machine.
One passer-by said a woman, believed to be the victim’s wife, sought the help of other soldiers from nearby Brompton Barracks in Gillingham, Kent, at 6pm on Tuesday.
A local said: “The attacker stabbed him about 12 times. This was with two kitchen knives, about nine to 10 inches long.
“His wife tried to pull the attacker away. The attacker didn’t want her though, just the soldier.”
Dad-of-two Lt Col Teeton had got back to his feet after around 20 seconds and staggered towards his home.
But the attacker is said to have chased him down and began a second horrific assault.
The officer was airlifted to hospital where his condition was serious but stable last night.
Alex Reynolds, a 38-year-old commodities trader who lives opposite, said he saw a soldier in a cream camouflage uniform on the ground.
He told The Sun: “The first thing I heard was a piercing scream.
“When I first went down there I thought it was a scuffle between two people, but as soon as we got there we realised it was more.
““His wife came out and was telling other soldiers to get out of cars and help.
“She was frantically running around directing traffic, telling them to drive on the pavements so they could get to the scene.”
A woman, who lives near Brompton Medical Centre, said she heard the woman say: “My husband has been stabbed. Is there a first aider?”
Half an hour after the attack police arrested a 24-year-old suspect at his home in Rochester. Knives were also recovered from an address.
It is understood the suspect’s brother knew Lt Col Teeton, who has been a course manager at the Royal School of Military Engineering at the barracks for almost six years.
The man under arrest was born in Nigeria and has a British passport. He comes from a Christian family from Thamesmead, South London.
He is said to be an electrical engineering student but has had mental health problems.
Kent Police said the motive was still unclear. Counter-terror detectives were aiding the probe.
Last night cops were granted more time to hold the suspect in custody.
Lt Col Teeton joined the Army 24 years ago and in 2018 was awarded a long service and good conduct medal. He ran 44 miles on the 80th anniversary of D-Day to raise money for the Combat Stress charity.
- Additional reporting by Jerome Starkey, Thomas Godfrey and Dan Hammond