A 'very dangerous young man' taken off the streets

A ‘very dangerous’ man with paranoid schizophrenia tried to kill a police officer by stabbing him in the neck with a craft knife in a random attack. Jacob Brown also stabbed a second officer in the terrifying incident in south Manchester in July 2023.

While on remand in prison waiting for his case to come to court the 27-year-old also stabbed two prison officers in two separate incidents. In the second of those attacks, he used a ‘hard plastic prison-issue knife’ which had been sharpened to a point to repeatedly stab a guard while appearing in court via video link.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard Brown, of Wood Road, Whally Range, had a ‘tendency to be very violent’ when in midst of a psychotic episode. In July 2021 he fractured a ‘complete stranger’s’ skull by hitting them over the head with a sock filled with rocks outside a covid testing centre in Hulme and was later sentenced to three years and four months in prison, the court heard.

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Neil Fryman, prosecuting, said on July 26 last year Brown was carrying a blue handled craft knife when a crash between a moped and a Seat car took place around 100 yards from his home in Whalley Range. Seeing police sergeants Tim Ansell and Mark Foster stood in full uniform on the pavement close to the scene of the crash, Brown, wearing all black clothing with a hood tightly tied around his face, ‘took them by surprise’ and launched a ‘ferocious’ attack.

He first stabbed Sgt Foster to the neck and jaw. After the officer managed to escape with relatively minor injuries, Brown turned his attentions to Sgt Ansell.

Mr Fryman said: “He deliberately aimed for the