Kingston Crown Court: Defendant appeared by video-link
A masked knifeman was restrained by solicitors when he burst into their offices to accuse staff of “flooding Europe with migrants”, a jury heard yesterday.
Cavan Medlock, 32, planned to take a hostage and had a pair of handcuffs, a Nazi flag and a Confederate flag in his rucksack when he entered leading civil legal aid firm Duncan Lewis’s Harrow office in North-West London.
Mr Medlock, from Harrow, had admitted possession of a knife during the alleged attack on 7 September 2020 and also that he abused two members of staff with racist language.
He is charged with making preparations for a terrorist act and making threats to kill during the incident.
He appeared at Kingston Crown Court via video-link from psychiatric hospital, with Mr Justice Bennathan telling the jury that “through no fault of his own, the defendant is not fit for trial”.
The jury’s task was to decide “whether this defendant did the act, namely whether he made preparations for a terrorist act and made threats to kill”.
Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting, said Mr Medlock was wearing a Covid face mask, black gloves with reinforced knuckles and was carrying the black rucksack.
He was told by the receptionist he needed to make an appointment and looked as though he was going to leave.
“He turned around in hallway, came back and walked up to desk where the receptionist sat and as he did that reached into the rucksack and withdrew a combat knife,” said Mr Cray.
CCTV footage showed the receptionist managed to push him away, allowing colleagues to restrain Mr Medlock against a wall until the police arrived.
Mr Cray said Mr Medlock said he had come to the office to kill a solicitor. “He said this was because the firm had helped immigrants come to the United Kingdom and that immigrants were not welcome ‘here’.
“He also made comments to the effect of ‘it’s rats like you that take up all the social housing in this country’ and ‘Enoch Powell was right’.”
Another member of staff said she was Jewish and asked whether Mr Medlock had a problem with her, the court heard.
Mr Cray added: “The defendant replied with words to the effect of ‘Hitler was right but didn’t finish the job’.”
In a police interview, Mr Medlock said he wanted to take a member of Duncan Lewis staff hostage. “He intended his actions to be a ‘rallying cry’ for other far right extremists,” said Mr Cray. “He said he wanted the media to come and see the flags displayed in the windows of the office.”
When asked in an interview if he felt that this was the right course of action, Mr Medlock replied: “When politics fail and the people have no alternative. I think violence is the only natural progression of that thinking and to get change.”
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