Both Douk Deng, 21, has been sentenced to two years in prison after being caught with a hammer, hatchet and a seven-inch kitchen knife on the grounds of Edgar Wood Academy in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Bodycam footage released by Greater Manchester Police shows officers leaping from their vehicle and sprinting towards Deng, commanding him to halt. A brief struggle ensues before the officers bring Deng to the ground as he cries out.
Incident at the school
Police were dispatched to Edgar Wood Academy in Middleton on 6th August last year after a member of staff reported a suspicious individual on the premises. The school was empty at the time as it was the summer holidays. Workmen confronted Deng on site, after a concerned member of the public had flagged worries about him 'behaving oddly' on a nearby street while carrying a petrol canister with a hammer fastened to his waist.
Deng was 'mumbling' while completing a 'full circuit' of the school premises, which remained shut to students during the summer break. He surveyed the structure before moving closer, prompting construction workers to alert authorities. The court heard he was making his departure from the school grounds when officers apprehended him.
Court proceedings
Minshull Street Crown Court was told that Deng, a South Sudanese national who had applied for and been refused asylum on three separate occasions, sought to 'create a scene for attention' to further his case. He had grown 'increasingly frustrated' that immigration authorities were failing to support his efforts to remain and work in the UK.
Sara Haque, representing him, stated: "He maintains that his actions were not motivated by any desire to injure or harm any person. This was a bizarre and compulsive act lacking in any type of maturity at a time when he was in deep distress having left Sudan and his family in traumatic circumstances. He wanted attention and he was in crisis but he was not motivated by hostility towards children, teachers or the wider public. There is no evidence that he threatened any individual."
The court heard that Deng, who has a wife and children, was housed in multiple accommodation housing (HMO) upon reaching the UK. Ms Haque stated: "He found himself in a foreign country with very limited English and unable to work because of his immigration status. He believed and felt no-one was listening to him and no-one was helping him. He felt he had reached the end of his ability to cope within the HMO where others in similar circumstances to him had been assisted by the immigration authorities. He became increasingly frustrated that the same was not happening for him. His only wish is to work and find money to support his family."
Psychiatric assessments of the accused revealed no significant mental health concerns. Deng was informed he would serve up to half his sentence behind bars, with the remainder under licence. Judge Bernadette Baxter remarked: "I have no power to order the Home Office to do anything. But in my judgment, given your circumstances as a failed asylum seeker who has been in custody for the best part of a year, the Home Office should be doing something rather than nothing to deal with your status in this country."
Police response
Chief Superintendent Helen Caldbeck, District Commander for Rochdale, commented: "I'm incredibly proud of the officers' response to this incident. They were professional and brave in tackling a suspicious man armed with weapons and immediately confronted Deng, to keep the public safe."
