A POLICE officer who had his throat slashed as he tried to arrest a 'highly dangerous' knifeman was saved by a retired surgeon who was passing the scene, the Old Bailey heard today.
PC Paul Madden, 23, was savagely attacked by 28-year-old Paul Onyenaychi in front of horrified shoppers, during a routine bus ticket inspection in Ealing Broadway, the jury heard.
Onyenaychi allegedly also stabbed PCSO Piotr Dolata, 27, as he tried to come to his colleague's aid and then slashed the high-visibility jacket of PCSO Steven Constable on December 15.
The attack ended a four-day 'crime-spree of lethal and extreme violence' in which Onyenaychi 'gratuitously stabbed' an innocent bystander in a cab office in Hanwell and robbed a man at knifepoint in Fulham, the court heard.
As the case started the Recorder of London Judge Peter Beaumont QC told the jury the dock was empty as Onyenaychi had exercised his right to remain in the cells.
Onyenaychi, of Stratford, east London, denies two counts of attempted murder, in relation to PC Madden and PCSO Dolata; attempting to wound PCSO Constable with intent; wounding with intent in relation to the attack in the cab office; and the robbery.
