Murder of Jonathan Henry

Background

PC Jonathan Charles Henry (1 January 1971 – 11 June 2007) was a British police officer serving with Bedfordshire Police. He had served in the force for three years prior to his death, having previously worked as a floor fitter in the Luton area. He married Mary in 2005, and the couple had an infant daughter, Maggie.

The Attack

At around 7:18 am on 11 June 2007, having begun his shift at 7 am, Henry responded to 999 calls reporting a stabbing on George Street in Luton town centre. A window cleaner, Stephen Chamberlain, had been stabbed in what was described as a random attack. Henry approached the suspect from behind in an attempt to make an arrest but was stabbed in the chest with a 4½-inch (11 cm) knife. He was stabbed a second time as he lay on the ground wounded.

Another window cleaner, David Knight, who was also stabbed in the arm during the incident, struck the suspect over the head with a window cleaning pole. Police back-up officers subsequently used a baton round and two shots from a Taser to subdue the suspect. Henry was taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital by ambulance but died of his injuries later that day.

Conviction

Ikechukwu Tennyson Obih, a 29-year-old Nigerian immigrant with paranoid schizophrenia, was convicted of Henry's murder on 26 March 2009 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 25 years by Mr Justice Bean.

Obih had a history of alcohol and cannabis abuse, and from 2004 he had experienced auditory hallucinations and delusions. During his trial the jury heard that Obih believed he had special powers, could predict the future, and could make objects explode by pointing at them. He also reportedly distrusted the police.

Obih denied the charge of murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The jury rejected this defence and found him guilty of the murder of Henry, the attempted murder of Chamberlain, and wounding with intent against Knight; he was found not guilty of the attempted murder of Knight. Obih was also convicted of aggravated burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in connection with a separate incident on the same day. The judge accepted that Obih's schizophrenia was a mitigating factor and recommended that he receive psychiatric rehabilitation at a high-security mental hospital.

Memorial

In 2008 the Police Memorial Trust erected a stone memorial to PC Henry near the location of his murder on George Street, Luton. Present at the unveiling were the Trust's founder, Michael Winner, and the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.