Police hold man on suspicion of possessing weapon and making threats, days after attack on civil servant

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man has been arrested outside a Home Office building in London on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

The incident comes days after a civil servant was attacked outside one of the department’s other premises in the capital.

Police were called shortly before lunchtime on Tuesday to St Thomas Street in Southwark, south London, after reports of a man armed with a knife and a hammer.

The man, who is in his 30s, was “flagged down and taken into custody”, according to the Metropolitan police.

The street is the location of Becket House, an immigration reporting centre where people who do not have permission to stay in the UK are required to attend regular appointments.

The incident is not being treated as terrorism-related and it is understood no one was injured.

In a separate incident last Thursday another man was arrested outside a different Home Office building in central London after a civil servant in his 60s was slashed with a knife.

Dominic Hornberger, 29, from Birmingham, appeared in court on Monday after being charged on Friday with grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife in a public place.

After his appearance at Westminster magistrates court he was remanded in custody to appear at Southwark crown court on 13 September.

The man who was injured in the Thursday lunchtime attack works for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is in the same building as the headquarters of the Home Office in Westminster.

He stepped inside the building for help after sustaining knife wounds in the street attack.