Jury clears suicidal man, 30, of trying to stab officers in Horse Guards Parade

A knifeman who charged at an armed police officer in Horse Guards Parade has been cleared of trying to stab him after telling a jury he only wanted to be shot dead.

Prashanth Kandhaiah, 30, sprinted towards Ministry of Defence Pcs Ravinder Digpaul and Ryan Pariso in the tiltyard of the parade ground, off Whitehall, central London, brandishing a five-inch kitchen knife.

Pc Digpaul moved to bring his MP7 carbine rifle into position and changed the safety to fire but lost his footing while being chased on April 18 this year.

Pc Digpaul told Southwark Crown Court: “I felt, if he had been able to get past my legs, I believe he would’ve either seriously injured me or killed me.”

The day before, Kandhaiah had searched online for the 2019 London Bridge terror attack – when Usman Khan was shot dead by police after stabbing to death Jack Merritt, 25, and 23-year-old Saskia Jones.

Giving evidence, Kandhaiah, from Thamesmead, told jurors he was not a “terrorist”, adding: “I didn’t go there to stab an officer. I went there to get shot.”

After just over an hour of deliberating on Thursday, jurors acquitted him to attempting to commit grievous bodily harm.

During the trial, the jury was not told Kandhaiah had already pleaded guilty to having a knife and threatening another person with a blade.

Judge Adam Hiddleston remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing on December 9.

Kandhaiah had made at least four attempts to kill himself and told doctors of his suicide-by-police plan as far ago as October 2020, the court was told.

Kandhaiah, dressed in two pairs of tracksuit bottoms and four jackets, arrived at Whitehall on his electric bike before the attack, which was caught on CCTV footage played in court.

Pc Digpaul said the defendant had “quite an angry look on his face” when he ran towards him and his colleague.

“I couldn’t think what his actions were other than to attack us and try to kill us,” he said.

“I was pretty scared seeing the blade and how quickly he was running towards us.”

The officer said he had readied his firearm but lost his footing when he tried to create distance between him and the alleged attacker.

Pc Digpaul told jurors he felt “very vulnerable” and “scared” and was “trying to do anything I can, really, to avoid being stabbed”.

In body-worn camera footage, Pc Pariso can be heard ordering Kandhaiah to “get down” and “stay down” while the knifeman is screaming before asking officers to “shoot me”.

Kandhaiah told jurors: “I thought as soon as they saw me they would shoot me.

“It’s central London so they take it very seriously.

“I thought they wouldn’t play around.”