Eastbourne police stabber Paul Cunningham jailed over vendetta

Paul Cunningham has carried out a 15-year vendetta against officers, leading to him stabbing PC Richard Bligh at random in Eastbourne.

The 43-year-old has previously made threats to throw acid at officers and to stab them.

Then during the early hours, when PC Bligh asked him if he was ok, he attacked.

Cunningham was carrying a lock knife and stabbed the officer in the leg.

He told PC Bligh’s desperate colleagues: “I want to kill all the police, I wish I had got his femoral artery.”

Lewes Crown Court heard how Cunningham said he hated the police, and shouted “black lives matter” as he claimed he “could not breathe” as he was being arrested.

Lewes Crown Court.

Police believed he holds “extremist” views when they heard him spout anti-Semitic abuse, shouting: “The only people who are hated more than the police are the Jews.”

Her Honour Judge Christine Laing QC said Cunningham was clearly a danger and said that: “This offence is him carrying out his desire to take revenge on a police officer.”

Richard Hearnden, prosecuting, said the incident unfolded in Terminus Road at 1am on September 14.

PC Bligh was about to leave the area when he saw the defendant “grinning” and asked if he was ok.

CCTV footage released by Sussex Police showed people in the streets as PC Richard Bligh was stabbed

The officer was concerned for Cunningham, who was “intoxicated”, but as he stepped out of the patrol car, Cunningham stabbed him.

As police battled to stem the bleeding of PC Bligh, Cunningham turned nasty.

“F*** the police, I hate the police,” he spouted.

“Bleeding to that blood vessel is extremely serious and often fatal,” Mr Hearnden said.

PC Bligh described it as a “horrific assault” that has left him physically scarred.

Footage shows Cunningham under arrest just feet away from where he stabbed PC Richard Bligh in Eastbourne

He said: “I have no doubt that if it were not for the fact I was crewed with others, I would not be alive today. His intention was to kill me. He holds no respect for law or authority.

“Underneath the uniform I am still a human being with family and loved-ones. Who is he to attempt to take a life?

“I would deem him to be a danger to another person, he must not be allowed to do this again.”

As police tried to get Cunningham an ambulance, he spat at them and in the end they had to use a spit hood and spray to subdue him.

Then when he arrived in custody to have his photograph taken, he stuck up his bloody middle finger at the camera with his hands still covered in PC Bligh’s blood.

Mr Hearnden said Cunningham has a “strong, real hatred of all public services, especially the police”.

In previous incidents “he has detailed his desire to kill or injure police officers”, including by stabbing them or throwing acid at them.

Footage shows Cunningham lying on the ground under arrest

The judge said his hatred stems back to Cunningham believing he was once wrongfully arrested in 2005.

She said the thug has often abused police and public services in the “vilest of terms”.

Cunningham refused to leave prison for his sentencing hearing.

Kevin Light, defending, said his client had shown remorse and written a letter of apology to the officer.

He has a personality disorder and was drinking heavily at the time. His mother Angela Cunningham had told Mr Light that her son “could not believe” what he had done and was ashamed.

Paul Cunningham has been jailed for stabbing a police officer in Eastbourne

The judge jailed him for seven and a half years, but said because he is so dangerous and a high risk of attacking the police, he will not be released half way through his jail term.

A parole board will have to decide if he is safe to be after released two-thirds of his sentence.

Thereafter, he will remain on licence for an extra five years, so the overall sentence lasts for 12 and a half years.

Cunningham, of Pevensey Road, Eastbourne, is now behind bars for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a bladed weapon in public, and assaulting a second emergency worker PC Jacob Jeffery by kicking him.