Streatham attacker Sudesh Amman died because he couldn’t let go of an insane delusion – but he wasn’t the only tragic victim of mental illness in the news this week.

THREE POLICE CARS screamed past me down Streatham High Road. That was the first sign.

And a couple of minutes later, I saw the ‘Copper Chopper’ in the air half a mile away, hovering over the dead body of failed jihadi Sudesh Amman.

Unlike some people I know, I wasn’t close enough to hear the deadly shots.

But, almost every day, I shop where Amman unleashed his mayhem. I go to the little store he stole the knife from.

And only recently, I’d shot photographs from the exact spot where the armed police had shot him.

On Sunday, my first thoughts were for my family but – once I knew they were all safe – I started worrying about the innocent people Amman had stabbed.

All I thought about him was that I was glad he was dead – and it was only later that I started to see the 20-year-old’s demise as a tragedy, of sorts.   

Continue reading “Deadly Delusions And The Tragedy Of Sudesh Amman” →