Life on the line
A police veteran of the 2017 London Bridge attacks has survived a strangling that has now sent a predatory gambling addict down for life in a UK prison.
The Sun on Thursday reported that the unnamed cop thwarted the criminal designs of Abdi-Rahman Khaliif-Ali, 27, who tried to steal his Rolex Sky-Dweller watch worth around £45,000 ($61,843).
vet was acting drunk in London’s West End
According to a Wednesday report from the UK government’s Crown Prosecution Services, the vet was acting drunk in London’s West End as part of a sting operation investigating luxury watch-related street robberies in London.
Ealing resident Khaliif-Ali took the bait, but instead of running when the officer revealed himself, he allegedly attempted to strangle him to death.
Close call
According to reports, Khaliif-Ali took the cop by the neck, covering his nose and mouth with a hand to suffocate him.
felt safer at a terrorist attack”
Later, the veteran of the 2017 London Bridge attack, in which eight people died in a coordinated van and knife attack, admitted that he “felt safer at a terrorist attack than I did during the incident.”
While the cop walked out of the 2017 attack, it appears only the intervention of others saved his life during the strangling over the 2024 Christmas period.
The Sun stated Thursday that a homeless man and a female police officer tried to help the cop, with the latter taking a blow in the face before she got the suspect into restraints.
Desperate criminal
The unnamed veteran officer told the media that when the watch thief turned violent he: “realized I was on my own and fighting for my life.”
A CPS statement concurred, adding the attack was both sustained and serious, with the suspect “determined to steal the victim’s watch by any means necessary.”
Reports state Khaliif-Ali to be a paranoid schizophrenic gambling addict who had previously confessed to “assault with intent to rob and intentional strangulation.”
Southwark Crown Court Judge Justin Cole handed down the life sentence, telling Khaliif-Ali: “I’m in no doubt that you are dangerous.”
