Axe man runs amok in abbey and destroys statues
A 62-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious head and back injuries after the attacker armed with two small axes went on the rampage in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, England.
He then burst into the church in Waltham Abbey and turned the weapons on the pulpit, organ, statues and at least one historic stained glass window, causing damage estimated at more than 400,000.
He was shouting as he "virtually demolished" the pulpit and smashed his hatchets into the faces of statues showing Jesus, Mary and Joseph, eyewitnesses said.
Off-duty police officers in the abbey helped usher others inside to safety and raised the alarm.
A 47-year-old man was arrested in the abbey in connection with the attack and taken for questioning. No people were injured inside.
Police were investigating reports of a more minor assault in Essex. A woman, suffering from shock, was taken to Chase Farm Hospital, where the seriously injured man is being treated.
Canon Martin Webster, vicar of the abbey, said the "frenzied attack" started when the man became involved in a dispute some distance from the abbey.
After damaging vehicles he burst into the church, "running amok" with an axe in either hand for some five to six minutes.
"He got into the sanctuary and really had a go at the heart of our church, that's what is most upsetting," Mr Webster told PA News.
"He was shouting but it was hard to hear what he said over the noise of him hitting things.
"He was clearly in an agitated state but quite determined.
"It was upsetting, but at the time we were more concerned with making sure staff and members of the public had left the building.
"But when he started to tackle the organ I did want to say to him, 'Please don't do that'."
Off-duty police officers who were in the church helped move members of the public to safety and called their colleagues, he said.
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