Bravery, desperation, and a surprising sentence

Jason King brandishes a knife shortly before stabbing a neighbour

Jason King is a 55 year old man who, on a warm evening in May 2024, decided to settle an argument with his neighbour by banging on their front door and threatening to set his dog on them. When the neighbour confronted him, King stabbed him in the stomach with a knife he had brought to the scene.

Two unarmed response officers from Thames Valley Police were first to the scene. On seeing this, King leant out of an upstairs window and fired a crossbow at the officers. He then came out of his address and chased the officers, shooting repeatedly at them.

One of the officers, PC Foster, was hit in the leg and sustained a serious injury. Despite the significant and ongoing threat presented by King, the officers not only worked to protect the public - in one case bodily carrying a child into a house - but continued to update the control room on King’s location.

When armed police arrived, they immediately deployed into the park where King was now hiding with his crossbow. He was located, confronted, and when he tried to run away towards houses, still armed with the crossbow, he was shot by police - incidentally it was an incredibly accurate shot from quite a long distance, which demonstrates how well trained are our armed officers.

An armed officer in pursuit of Jason King

Once he was disarmed, police immediately began giving King life saving first aid - while nearby paramedics and police colleagues administered to PC Foster, who was bleeding profusely.

King survived, and on 20th August this year was found guilty of various offences. The court sentenced him to 9 years in prison.

I am pleased to say that PC Foster made a full recovery and returned to work.

I am even more delighted to say that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) determined that the officers involved had acted in the best interests of the public and that their actions had ensured that nobody else was injured. So often the IOPC nit picks every little action and decision by police. Most officers think their only interest is in locking up an officer if possible. At least on this occasion they seem to have got it right.

I won’t dwell on the sentence - others have already commented on this - my interest is in the officers and their actions that day.

You can see the video put out by Thames Valley Police which shows in detail the actions of the officers and the violence shown by King.

These officers - both look quite young and probably don’t have a huge amount of service between them - showcased all that is right and admirable about our police. Despite being injured, frightened, and in genuine mortal danger from King, they kept the public safe and worked as part of a team to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. I am full of admiration for them. If only the press and political classes did more to highlight this sort of everyday heroism.