Machete attack on Bradford police officer sparked 'code zero' alert

The brief but shocking incident, which prompted a “Code Zero” call for assistance to West Yorkshire Police’s firearms unit, was captured on CCTV and police officers’ bodyworn cameras and played to Leeds Magistrates’ Court.

In a statement read to the court the officer who received a blow to the leg from the machete said the attack was “indiscriminate” and at no point did the youth involved stop.

She said: “I consider myself and my colleagues extremely lucky that we did not lose a limb due to his reckless behaviour.”

Prosecutor Charles MacRae said the incident erupted at about 6.50pm on April 1 this year in a yard behind Wibsey Convenience Store in Brownroyd Hill Road, Bradford.

A worker in the shop saw two males outside acting suspiciously and walking towards the door of the shop.

The altercation happened in a passageway at the side of Wibsey Convenience Store, in Brownroyd Hill Road, Bradford (Image: Telegraph & Argus)

He locked the door and monitored the pair on CCTV as they walked down the side of the shop to the back.

He then called the police as a similar situation had occurred the previous month that resulted in him being robbed.

Three officers, PC Millie Fairbank, PC Kai Thackray, and PC James Best arrived four minutes later and went to the back of the shop where they found two youths both wearing face coverings.

PC Best handcuffed one but the other involved in these proceedings ignored repeated orders “to stick his hands out”. He kept his right arm tight by his side and backed towards a fence.

PC Fairbank attempted to take hold of his wrists, but he pulled away and suddenly hit her in the face with a “haymaker punch”. He then pulled a large machete from his jacket and swung it towards her head, narrowly missing her outstretched arm.

PC Thackray used PAVA incapacitant spray on the youth, who then swung the machete “wildly with force trying to make contact with anybody in reach”, said Mr MacRae.

PC Thackray said: “He put his full force into the swing.”

The weapon struck PC Fairbank on the right side of her leg “with force”. The youth then continued swinging the blade repeatedly before running off.

He dumped the machete in bushes in a nearby ginnel, where it was subsequently recovered.

He was arrested 20 minutes later after being located by armed officers who pointed tasers at him to force him onto the ground.

PC Best was sufficiently concerned about the gravity of the incident that he sprayed the other youth in the face with PAVA “as a pre-emptive measure so that he could have some control over him whilst this was going on.”

He also pressed “Code Red” to call for assistance and said in a statement: “I could have gone home at the end of the day with my colleagues in hospital, or worse.”

PC Fairbank was lucky that she was not struck by the machete’s blade and suffered only heavy bruising to her leg, and to her eye from the punch.

The teenager later pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article in public, assault by beating of an emergency worker, two counts of attempt to do grievous bodily harm with intent, and charges of robbery and fraud related to an earlier incident at 6.45pm on March 11 when he and another male armed with a baseball bat robbed a man of his wallet and its contents, a mobile phone, and airpods.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons connected to his age, was identified after being caught on CCTV as he used stolen bank cards in a mini market. He was arrested at 3am on March 12.

Mitigating, Adnan Zulfiqar said the youth had the machete for personal protection as he was not from the area and was aware of a friend who “had been done in” by being stabbed.

He said he had associated “in and around the wrong people”, that they were not his friends, and that he “panicked” when he heard a police radio.

He said the teenager was “very remorseful for his actions”, adding: “He is very luck y that nobody got injured or worse.”

In sentencing the youth, Janet Stanyer, chair of the magistrates for the case, said the “very serious crimes” could have warranted a longer sentence but that they had taken into consideration that he might have been a vulnerable youth who had been groomed by an organised crime gang.

She ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the machete and ordered the youth to pay compensation of £50 to the officer who had been punched and struck by the blade.

She said: “It’s not a lot but she does deserve something, [and] you are a youth.”