Court hears Kent man tried to kill police officer with scissors
The 50 year-old's trial has begun
A court has heard a Kent man, suspected of exposing himself to women, tried to kill a police officer who came to arrest him at his home by stabbing him in the head, face and neck 23 times with a pair of scissors.
Robert Jenner, 50, is accused of the attempted murder of Kent Police constable Sean Quinn - who suffered multiple injuries including a "gaping wound" across his forehead, which exposed his skull, during the attack on June 15, 2023, at the defendant's flat in Maidstone.
A trial at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday saw "upsetting" body-worn footage of Jenner topless barricaded in his flat with a sofa, while Pc Quinn shouts "put those f** scissors down now".
The officer then gets into the room where the defendant "launched" himself, stabbing Pc Quinn who is seen screaming for help with a bloodied face.
Jenner only stopped the assault when a fellow officer got into the flat and punched him in the head five or six times to force him to drop the scissors, jurors were told.
Opening the case, prosecutor Daniel Stevenson, said: "The Crown's case is that by attacking Sean Quinn in the way in which he did, stabbing him multiple times to the head, face and neck, by choosing to do that, he must have been trying to do more than causing really serious injury, he must have been trying to end his life."
The court heard Jenner had gone to Maidstone police station earlier that day to ask for his see-through clothing back from officers that had previously been seized.
Officers refused as they believed he would wear them and commit another offence, and Jenner replied: "I'm going to strip off now wankers," jurors were told.
At 7.50pm that evening, Kent Police received a report of a man running naked in Mote Park, in Maidstone, "nipping in and out of bushes exposing himself to women".
The court heard officers Pc Quinn and colleague Pc Ashley Bates suspected it to be Jenner, having dealt with him in the past, and decided to visit his address where the confrontation took place.
Pc Quinn was bleeding heavily from his wounds, with pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow documenting 23 separate injuries - most of them, 19, to the face, head and neck area.
The prosecutor said a degree of moderate to severe force would have been needed to sustain some of the full-depth injuries.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Pc Quinn recalled seeing Jenner crouched onto the back of the sofa "completely naked" and "quite angry" after being pepper sprayed by a colleague before he entered his kitchen living room.
"I tried to speak to him but before I could speak - 'what the f*** are you doing Robert?' - he launched himself towards me."
He said there was no time to get out his police equipment as it took place in a "split second", adding: "I ran towards him, my first thought was: he's trying to kill me for some reason. I thought I was not going to die and get stabbed in the back, so I ran towards him."
The officer described feeling a thud across his head before being on his back with Jenner on top of him as he tried to keep hold of him.
Asked by defence barrister Christopher Jeyes whether calling Jenner a "dickhead" and using sarcasm during exchanges with him was going to calm him down, Pc Quinn replied: "I think he was too far gone at that point.
"Robert was beyond calming at that point."
Following the incident, Jenner was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, who said: "I didn't mean to do it" and "is he okay?" and "F*** oh mate, I didn't want this to happen, I didn't want it to come to this".
Mr Stevenson said Jenner's defence is that he was acting to defend himself from what he believed was an unlawful arrest or unlawful entry to his flat, and that he did not intend to kill or seriously injure Pc Quinn.
But the prosecutor added the pathologist evidence shows the wounds "had the potential to be fatal" had they struck one of the major arteries, and that is why the defendant chose to stab that area of the body.
"(Pc Quinn) was wearing a stab-proof vest, what was exposed was his face, head and neck," he said.
"That is what the Crown say he had in mind, this defendant, for whatever reason, he chose in that moment to to try and end that police officer's life and continued to do so even when other officers came into the room.
"That is why we say he is guilty of attempted murder."
Jenner is also charged with wounding with intent, and denies both allegations.
The trial continues.