An "arrogant and remorseless" machete attacker who left a police officer with skull fractures and deep gashes to the head has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Handyman Muhammad Rodwan, 56, struck PC Stuart Outten over the head with a 2ft blade after being pulled over in Leyton, east London, last August.

He must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence and will be freed only when the Parole Board considers him safe. He will serve a further three years on extended licence.

Image: The machete used by Muhammad Rodwan in the attack

Rodwan was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Thursday of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The jury cleared him of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

Judge Mrs Justice Carr told Rodwan that the situation was "entirely of your own making", adding: "All you had to do was cease resisting arrest, as you well knew, and then the struggle would have stopped."


She continued: "I detect not a shred of remorse or insight on your part, but rather belligerent arrogance, typified by your comment when charged that your life was worth more than that of PC Outten."

'Strangling the defendant was inherently dangerous'

Earlier, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC told the judge the crime was among the most serious of wounding offences, adding that gratuitous violence had been used.

But Michael Turner QC, defending, said the judge should be more lenient, acknowledging the jurors' rejection of the more serious charge of attempted murder and their acceptance that Rodwan was not carrying the machete unlawfully.

He said the attack on PC Outten, 29, was not premeditated, but rather a reaction to the officer putting his hands around his throat and strangling him and pulling out seven of his dreadlocks.

Mr Turner said: "The officer accepted that in strangling the defendant he was committing an inherently dangerous act."

But Mrs Justice Carr told Rodwan she rejected the "unattractive submission that he (PC Outten) was using excessive force in circumstances when you had assaulted him and forcibly resisted arrest".

Image: PC Outten was left with deep gashes to the head

Rodwan, who was stopped for having no insurance, has previous convictions for rape and for wounding with intent after attacking two people with a machete.

He claimed he was acting in self-defence.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, PC Outten said that one cut to the side of his head caught an artery and chipped his skull.

Another cut lacerated a nerve which resulted in temporary paralysis to part of his face.

He needed operations to repair his hands and could not drive for three months.

'I didn't have time to be afraid - I had to stop him'

PC Outten told Sky News he thought he would die in the attack, as his Taser stun gun initially failed to work.

He said: "The first shot hadn't worked, he showed no reaction and I thought 'oh dear', or words like that.

"I may have been able to fight him off, but with the blood loss I'd already gone through that would have carried on (and) I don't think I would have been able to stop him without my Taser.

"I fully believe he would have carried on chopping and hacking at me. My thought process was 'I need to stop him or he will kill me'."

Image: PC Outten managed to radio for help

Lying on his back, with his attacker poised to strike again, PC Outten fired a second Taser shot and Rodwan fell to the ground beside him.

"I thought I've got one last shot and if that doesn't work he's going to end up killing me," he said.

Video footage shown to jurors showed Rodwan being aggressive and trying to drive off as the officers spoke to him.

Rodwan punched PC Outten, who then tried to arrest him.

As the officer struggled to drag Rodwan from his van, he felt blows raining down on his head.

Image: PC Outten after undergoing surgery

PC Outten said: "By that time the adrenaline of having a scuffle with someone had kicked in, so I was aware that something big, heavy and sharp was hitting me on the side of the head.

"It's hard to explain - you don't know you've been cut until I realised it was blood.

"Then I put two and two together and thought he must be hitting me with a machete and realised I was bleeding heavily.

"I didn't have time to be afraid, I just knew I had to back away and stop him or he will kill me."

Five months on, PC Outten, the son of a police officer, has made a remarkable recovery and doctors have told him he is fit to return to work.