18/10/22 House of Lords National Pubwatch Awards sponsored by JD Wetherspoon
National Pubwatch has awarded bravery and meritorious conduct awards to an assistant pub manager and pub customer who intervened to catch a man who was attacking pedestrians and pub-goers in and around Regent Street, London, with a hammer.
Left to right: Steve Baker OBE Chair NPW, Lord Kennedy, Julien Autogue, Richard Wells, Nigel Connor JD Wetherspoon
It was 1 October 2021 when Morteza Ahmadi conducted a series of attacks, which were targeting women.
One attack took place outside Hamleys toy shop where he sexually assaulted a woman before hitting her on the head with a hammer. Shortly afterwards he attacked another woman on Regent Street, striking her in the face with the hammer.
In the third incident he visited the nearby Leicester Arms and sexually assaulted a female customer before buying a drink.
Assistant pub manager Richard Wells had been alerted by a member of staff to the conduct of Ahmadi in the pub and entered the bar area to confront the offender. As he did so he heard the sound of breaking glass and a scream. Ahmadi had hit a woman over the head with the hammer and attacked her partner, before departing the pub carrying a rucksack.
Customer Julien Autogue, a French national who was in UK for work and was in the pub having a quiet drink, said he heard lot of screaming and saw the offender.
“He had a hammer and quietly moved towards the exit threatening people not to follow him,” he said. “None of us knew what he had in his bag.”
Both Richard and Julien decided to follow Ahmadi. They realised that he may have a weapon in his backpack but despite that decided to follow and apprehend the individual.
Richard shouted at Morteza Ahmadi to attract his attention, at which point Julien ran towards him physically tackled him to the ground. Julien then restrained the man and Richard called the police.
On Friday, 13 May 2022 at Southwark Crown Court, Morteza Ahmadi was sentenced to 13 years in custody and a further five years on extended licence.
The investigating officer, Detective Jade Barnes stated: “I fully support this nomination. Julien and Richard’s actions should be commended. They put themselves in harm’s way to bring the offender to justice. In doing so, I have no doubt that they prevented many more victims.”
Richard said: “I didn’t really think. I just thought that could be my girlfriend sitting there, my boss sitting there and it could be anyone and I wanted to stop him doing it. I got emails from the police saying thank you. They said ‘If you didn’t step in then there would have been more lives put at risk.’”
He added: “I am still quite shocked to be receiving an award as I didn’t even know these type of awards existed. I am overwhelmed by this.”
Julien said: “I believe it is our duty and responsibility to look after each other. Especially when someone is in danger. I didn’t do much, I just did what was supposed to be done. But I’m very happy to receive this Bravery and Meritorious Conduct Award from National Pubwatch and it is a privilege to be given this award at an event at the House of Lords.”
