A man who claimed “Hitler was right” went to an immigration lawyer’s office with a knife and handcuffs planning to kill him, a court has heard.
Cavan Medlock, 31, from Harrow, appeared at Kingston crown court on Monday charged with preparation of terrorist acts and threats to kill the lawyer, Toufique Hossain.
The court heard that Medlock arrived at the offices of Duncan Lewis solicitors in Harrow shortly before 5pm on 7 September 2020. He was wearing black gloves with reinforced knuckle pads and was carrying a rucksack containing a black combat knife with a six-inch blade, a pair of handcuffs and rolls of packaging gaffer tape.
He also carried two large flags, one a Nazi swastika flag and the other a flag of the former confederate states of America.
Medlock asked to see Hossain and persisted when he was told this would not be possible without an appointment, the court heard.
Medlock later reached into the rucksack and took out the combat knife, held it up and moved towards the receptionist, Ravindran Tharmalangam.
Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting, told the court that Tharmalangam grabbed hold of Medlock and managed to disarm him, kicking the knife away. Other members of staff managed to overcome and restrain Medlock.
Hossain came to the reception area and Medlock told him he planned to kill him because the firm had helped immigrants come to the United Kingdom, the court heard.
Medlock used the P-word about another lawyer who was helping to restrain him, it was alleged. The jury heard that he also made comments to the effect of “It’s rats like you that take up all the social housing in this country” and “Enoch Powell was right”.
Another member of staff told Medlock she was Jewish and asked whether he had a problem with her. The court heard that Medlock replied with words to the effect of “Hitler was right but didn’t finish the job”.
The court heard that Medlock said: “Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the job.” When asked “What job?”, it is alleged that he replied while gesturing towards Hossain: “To kill this fucker.”
In his police interview, Medlock said he had taken the flags as he wanted to display them as a “rallying cry” while he was committing violent acts against Hossain. He also said he wanted to inspire other nationalists to push back against supporters of Black Lives Matter and “people who are tearing down our statues”.
Medlock said in his police interview: “I first saw his name on Daily Mail, a couple of days ago, and then when I Googled his name and I found out he has his office right here in Harrow, it was like, you know, these people, they … they can’t just continue to flood Europe with people nobody wants here and get away with it. And the politicians aren’t doing anything.”
He said Hossain brought “foreign invaders” into the country. In the police interview, he denied saying he wanted to kill Hossain and claimed he had wanted to take him hostage.
In relation to the Nazi flag, he said: “It’s just a rallying call to other nationalists who are of that disposition … I would say I was a national socialist, yeah, and I do believe Hitler should have won.”
He denies charges of making a threat to kill Hossain and the preparation of terrorist acts. The case continues.
