A solider has hailed his hero wife for fighting off a knifeman who he said tried to “cut my head off like Lee Rigby”.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton fought back tears as he described how a stranger attacked him outside his barracks and stabbed him a dozen times.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how Anthony Esan, 24, waited outside Brompton Barracks armed with kitchen blades after watching TikTok videos about knife attacks, including the 2013 killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
He had previously been rejected from the army account of his “psychotic disorder” and eczema.
Esan attacked Lt Col Teeton on July 23, 2024, targeting the first uniformed soldier he saw outside the barracks in Gillingham, Kent.
The 47-year-old survived the attack thanks to his wife Eileen, who happened to be in the back garden of their home just yards away.
Esan asked the soldier if he could use his phone as his moped had “broken down”.
When Lt Col Teeton stopped to help, Esan lunged forward and stabbed him a dozen times in the neck, abdomen, chest and groin.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton fought back tears as he described how a stranger attacked him
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MARK TEETON/FACEBOOK
Mrs Teeton rushed to help a soldier she saw in distress without realising the man being attacked was in fact her husband.
She told the court: “I watched horrified by his continued savage attack, and realised it was my husband on the ground and he was carving at his face and neck.”
“That wasn’t a soldier, that was Mark, my husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a work colleague, a friend to so many people that almost lost him but for the bravery and dedication of so many heroes who saved his life.”
“We will live with this forever, the scars will fade but your attack will never be erased.”
Anthony Esan will be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court later this week
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PAA doorbell recording captured her screams as she fought off Esan.
She is seen shouting: “Get off him. What are you doing? What the f*** are you doing?”
The British soldier, who has served for 26 years, told his wife in hospital: “Do the people at work know what he tried to do to me – cut my head off! Like Lee Rigby.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan, KC, said it was a miracle that the Lieutenant Colonel survived.
Court artist drawing of Anthony Esan, 24, (right) appearing at Medway Magistrates’ Court | PA
Fighting back tears, he said: “I still relive the incident in my mind; I actually think it is a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it as it means that I am unable to remember a large part of being attacked.
“I don’t think I will truly appreciate the courage shown by my wife and strangers to thwart the attack and then the quick thinking of an array of people that helped save my life.
“They are all heroes, and I am forever in gratitude to them.”
Esan fled on his moped and was caught less than an hour later at his home in Rochester, ranting about the devil with his hands covered in blood.
He admitted attempted murder and possession of two bladed weapons on the first day of his day of his trial.
Esan is to be sentenced later this week.