A man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for the murder of a 14-year-old boy during a 20-minute sword rampage through residential areas in London last April.
Marcos Arduini Monzo, 37, was captured on video shouting, “Is anybody here who believes in God?” while attacking police officers following the fatal assault on Daniel Anjorin, who was on his way to school. Daniel was killed just yards away from his family home in Hainault, northeast London, and was found by his father still wearing his school backpack.
On the morning of April 30, 2024, Monzo initiated his violent spree shortly after 7 a.m. by driving a van into a man walking to work, then exiting the vehicle to attack him with a samurai sword. After the first victim escaped, Monzo targeted Daniel Anjorin from behind. When emergency services arrived, he struck an ambulance with his sword and refused to surrender his weapon to the police.
The Metropolitan Police reported that officers at the scene, who were armed only with batons and Tasers, chased Monzo down an alleyway. He then assaulted a female officer, causing her serious injury. Monzo also entered a nearby home, attacking a couple while they were asleep near their young daughter, before fleeing when the child began to cry.
Monzo was ultimately cornered near a garage, where he was subdued with Tasers after a struggle with a police officer. Although he had expressed extremist views on social media, prosecutors indicated that there was no political motive behind his actions. Instead, Monzo was suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis at the time and had killed and attempted to eat his pet cat earlier that morning, as presented during his trial at London’s Old Bailey court.
During the sentencing, Judge Joel Bennathan described the event as a devastating attack on a peaceful community, emphasizing the tragic loss of a young life and the terror inflicted on the public and law enforcement personnel.
Monzo received a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years before being eligible for parole.