Homeless Bulgarian migrant Blagovest Hadjigueorguiev admitted setting fire to a police officer last month who tried to evict him from land belonging to Prince Charles.
Appearing before Truro Crown Court on Tuesday, the 30-year-old admitted to committing an act of grievous bodily harm with intent against PC Darral Mares and attempted grievous bodily harm with intent towards PC Alen Lenton.
On September 11th, police officers responded to a call for help from bailiffs struggling to evict the Bulgarian who had been staying illegally on property belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall in Newquay. He had strewn the field with plastic tents and had hung his bags from trees, according to the BBC.
On arrival, officers tried to engage with Hadjigueorguiev and ask him to leave the area, before he began to brandish a bottle of flammable liquid.
CornwallLive reported police bodycam footage as showing Hadjigueorguiev asking the police officers where they were from, if they were Cornish, and why they had tasers. After responding that they had the tasers for protection, the migrant claimed he had the volatile liquid for his own protection, telling the officers: “You came here to be a piece of sh*t for no reason.
“You are stepping on my tent, destroying my stuff and being a vandal you stupid sh*t.”
Hadjigueorguiev then threw the accelerant at 51-year-old PC Mares and ignited it, resulting in the Army veteran suffering serious burns to his arms and legs.
Police bodycam footage recorded the officer screaming in pain and calling for water. His colleagues were able to put out the flames and call an ambulance. While the injuries were not life-threatening, he is still said to be recovering from his injuries which local media described as life-changing.
Local media described 51-year-old PC Mares as popular and that he had been in the police force for 18 years. The judge adjourned sentencing until next month to receive an updated impact statement from the victim, with the judge telling the Bulgarian on Tuesday that he should be “under no illusions that you are facing an extremely lengthy prison sentence for this attack”.
In another case involving violence against police, on Monday 26-year-old Aydin Altun was found guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm after ploughing his car into a policeman while driving at speed, the officer, for several seconds, clinging to the car’s hood. Altun had claimed that he did not intend to hurt PC Lewis Crowder, but became frightened when he saw armed police attempting to stop and question him in relation to a London shooting the night before. The jury cleared Altun of the shooting.
Last month, London Met custody Seargent Matiu (Matt) Ratana was fatally shot while on duty, the 54-year-old being less than two years away from retirement.
While in July, Henry Long, Albert Bowers, and Jessie Cole were imprisoned after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Thames Valley Police Constable Andrew Harper. In August 2019, PC Harper was dragged for more than a mile to his death after his leg had become snagged in the tow rope of the convicts’ car. The officer had suspected the males of the theft of a quadbike. The three youths had a long history of stealing.
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