Jail for thug who knifed cop after shouting: ‘Are you looking at my bird’

A knifeman who repeatedly stabbed a plain clothed police officer for looking at his girlfriend has been jailed for 12 years.

Andrew Beadie, 20, shouted: ‘Are you looking at my bird’ before slashing the officer’s wrist with a 9″ Rambo blade.

He then called him a ‘f***ing pussy’ and jabbed the serrated blade into his gut as he backed away, leaving his intestines hanging from his body.

Beadie boasted: ‘I stuck him good’ as the policeman, known only as ‘K99473’, was rushed to hospital, where he remained for eight days following an emergency operation.

The attack in an alleyway by the Bow Bells pub in Bow, east London on 22 November last year, was the third committed by Beadie in just 25 minutes.

He was out walking with his 34-year-old girlfriend Janine Morris and her two teenage sons when he threatened a driver in a parked car with another, smaller knife.

Just minutes before he knifed the officer he punched a pedestrian – who has never been identified – to the head and body when the unfortunate man bumped into him in the street.

He attacked the officer, who was seated on a wall outside the pub, after accusing him of eyeing up his girlfriend.

Beadie claimed he thought the policeman was a ‘crack head’ who was about to attack him.

But he was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and assault by beating against the stranger after trial at the Old Bailey.

He was cleared of an alternative, more serious charge of attempted murder, and was also cleared of possession of the second, smaller knife which has never been recovered.

It emerged during trial that Beadie’s older lover had bought him two of the vicious blades from a shop in Basildon as a gift, and that he had sold one to a friend.

The officer suffered a 3cm and a 4cm stab wound to the left side of his abdomen.

His gut was described as ‘extruding’ through the incisions and a section of his bowel later had to be removed by surgeons.

Jailing Beadie for 12 years today, Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said: ‘I find as a fact that not only was the officer of course unarmed and did nothing to provoke you but he made no gesture in any way that could have provoked you into this conduct.’

She continued: ‘You contested this case saying you were defending yourself and/or this was an accident.’

‘In my judgement you went out that night with violent intention – this violent conduct was random and it was absolutely terrifying for your victim.

‘I believe you took out the knife that night in the sense of hoping to find some reason to use it.’

‘You stabbed this man not once but twice – the only mitigation is that you are still only 20 years old, you have undoubtedly had an unhappy and difficult start in life.

‘You were know to police because of the habit you developed of stealing because of positive neglect in your childhood.’

She said she accepted Beadie had no idea his victim was a plain clothed officer.

Judge Poulet branded him a ‘dangerous’ offender and ordered him to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody instead of the usual one-half.

He was also slapped with a two-year extended licence period.

Prosecutor Mark Paltenghi said at trial: ‘Although these two men met by chance in the alleyway that night it is the Crown’s case that when the defendant struck those blows he intended to kill the officer.’

Beadie, Morris and her two sons left home at about 9pm on the night of the incident.

‘He went out and subsequently proceeded to mete out mindless unprovoked violence on three total strangers who had the misfortune to have crossed his path,’ said the prosecutor.

‘At first he produced, from somewhere, a small knife to threaten the sole occupant of a parked car, which fortunately for the occupant was locked.

‘A short time later he picked upon and knocked to the ground a pedestrian, who he punched to the head and about the body.’

The attack was caught on CCTV, but the victim has never been identified by police.

As the group passed the officer Beadie demanded ‘are you staring at my bird?’

The officer replied ‘no mate, I don’t know what you’re talking about’ but Beadie repeated ‘were you staring at my bird?’

The court heard one of the two youngsters tried to stop things from escalating, but Beadie put his hand inside his coat and pulled out the 12-inch hunting knife.

The policeman put both hands out in front of him but was slashed in the left wrist as Beadie swung the blade down overarm.

As the officer backed away Beadie jabbed him twice to the stomach.

Beadie repeated ‘f***ing pussy, f***ing pussy’ before telling his companions ‘I struck him good.’

The victim spent eight days in hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to remove 10cm of his lower bowel.

Beadie claimed he stabbed the officer because he thought he was a crack addict who was about to attack him.

He said that the stab wounds he had inflicted were accidental.

‘I’m sorry that happened – I didn’t intend for that to happen. I just wanted him to back away from me,’ he said.

Neena Crinion, for Beadie, said that the incident had lasted less than a minute and that Beadie could have inflicted considerably more serious injuries with his hunting knife if he had chose to.

She added that Beadie displays many of the symptoms of ADHD.

Beadie, of Claremont Road, Basildon, Essex, was convicted wounding with intent to cause GBH and assault by beating, but cleared of attempted murder and having an offensive weapon.

He was jailed for 12 years with a two-year extended licence period.

ENDS