UK man jailed for 40 years for teenager's murder in London sword rampage

LONDON (Reuters) -A man who killed a 14-year-old boy in London during a rampage with a sword was on Friday jailed for a minimum of 40 years.

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, nearly decapitated schoolboy Daniel Anjorin during a 20-minute series of attacks in Hainault, east London, in April last year, in which he also assaulted several other people including police officers.

Prosecutors said Monzo killed and skinned his cat before driving his van at a pedestrian and slicing him with the sword, murdering Daniel and then trying to murder a police officer.

He then broke into a house and attacked a sleeping couple in bed before leaving after their child began to cry, finally wounding a second police officer before his arrest.

Monzo said he did not remember having carried out the attacks and his lawyers argued he should not be found guilty of murder as he was suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis.

Prosecutor Tom Little, however, argued that "self-induced intoxication" did not provide a defence to the charge of murder and Monzo was convicted of Daniel's murder by a jury.

He was also convicted of other charges, including three counts of attempted murder, for which there is no partial defence of diminished responsibility.

Judge Joel Bennathan told Monzo he would have jailed him for a minimum of 50 years, but reduced the sentence to 40 years "to recognise your mental ill health and previous good character".

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sarah Young)