Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleMarcus Arduini Monzo was sentenced to 40 years for a sword rampage in London, killing a teenager and injuring others.
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)
Marcus Arduini Monzo was convicted of murdering 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin and several counts of attempted murder.
Monzo's lawyers argued that he should not be found guilty of murder due to suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis.
Monzo was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison for his crimes.
Judge Joel Bennathan stated he would have imposed a 50-year sentence but reduced it to 40 years to acknowledge Monzo's mental health issues and previous good character.
During the rampage, Monzo killed a teenager, assaulted several others, and attempted to murder police officers.
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