From The Guardian Weekly (email service):
UK news / Swordsman runs amok in church /
A 26-year-old man was charged with attempted murder on Monday after a samurai sword attack during mass in a south London church last Sunday that left 11 people injured, four of them critically, writes Audrey Gillan.
Eden Strang was charged with trying to kill Paul Chilton outside St Andrew's Roman Catholic church in Thornton Heath.
A computer expert, Mr Strang has no recorded history of mental illness.
Mr Chilton's horrific facial injuries were described by one doctor as "the most severe injuries I have seen inflicted on one human by another".
He also lost a finger and thumb after attempting to shield himself from the blows of a naked man wielding a 3ft samurai sword. An operation to reattach the digits was postponed after doctors grafted them on to his other arm to prevent the tissue from dying.
The attacker was stopped when Tom Tracey, an off-duty police officer, grabbed an organ pipe and hit the man on the head. He was helped by other worshippers, including one who hit the man with a large cross, and was able to pin him down until armed police arrived and arrested the attacker.
The Guardian Weekly 2-12-1999, page 10