Van driver accused of attacking police officer Stuart Outten: I got angry because I'm always being stopped

A white van driver accused of trying to murder a police officer with a machete got angry because he was “always being stopped”, the Old Bailey has heard.

Muhammad Rodwan, 56, allegedly attacked Pc Stuart Outten, 29, with a rusty 2ft blade after he pulled him over for having no insurance during a routine traffic stop in Leyton, east London.

The Met Police officer suffered six deep wounds to the head, exposing his skull, but still managed to disable Rodwan with a Taser, jurors were told.

Following his arrest, the 56-year-old who had smoked weed earlier that day, appeared “angry” and “obstructive”, the court heard.

“This officer attacked myself and I defended myself," he told police following the incident, which took place on the night of August 7, 2019.

On being charged with attempted murder, he later insisted: “My life is worth more than his life.”

The court heard how Rodwan received cuts and bruises during the confrontation and lost seven of his dreadlocks.

Giving evidence in his trial, Rodwan said he had been living in his van where he kept all his possessions, including work tools, sleeping bag and quilt.

He used a tyre as a makeshift table, his toolbox as a seat and kept a knife for cutting cheese, the court heard.

Earlier on the day of the incident, he had used his machete while doing a gardening job in Gospel Oak, he said.

When he first noticed the police blue lights in Leyton, just before 11pm, he pulled to the curb, not thinking the police were trying to pull him over, the court heard.

But when he moved away and the police van followed, he realised “it was not somebody else, it’s me”, and stopped at the roadside, he said.

Jurors were shown police body-worn camera footage in which Rodwan could be heard to ask: “Are you going to knock me down? What do you want?”

Defence barrister Michael Turner QC said: “You appear to be agitated, cross, whatever. Why was that?”

Rodwan replied: “Because I’m always being stopped. So it’s one of those things, what do you want now?”

The defendant said he was not aware at the time that the insurance on his van had expired 12 days before.

In the police footage, the defendant was instructed by police not to drive away.

Asked what he had been intending to do, Rodwan said: “Drive away, drive away. Because I thought it’s just one of those circumstances where it was nothing again.”

Rodwan told jurors that he did not recall punching Pc Outten before he was arrested.

In the struggle, the officer pulled some of his dreadlocks out, which was “extremely painful”, and grabbed his throat, he said.

“I could not breathe at all. It felt like he cracked my throat, squeezed so hard it felt like it was popping.”

The 56-year-old then said he retrieved his machete from the van but could not remember how many times he hit Pc Outten with it before getting out the van.

He said: “I was just trying to hit him to get him away from me.”

The defendant said he did not know Pc Outten had a Taser and had raised the machete up to “try to scare him away from me”.

Mr Turner said: “Throughout this, did you have any intention to kill Pc Outten?”

The defendant said: “No. Getting away from him was my thing, really.”

The barrister asked: “In terms of your actions, did you believe that they were necessary?”

Rodwan replied: “I could not think of nothing else to do at the time.”

Asked if he meant to do Pc Outten serious harm with the machete, he said: “I was trying to defend myself, that was the only thing I had that I could have got hold of, that was the only thing close at hand.”

Rodwan, from Luton, has denied attempted murder, an alternative charge of wounding with intent, and possession of an offensive weapon.