‘Murder of my policeman husband like losing a limb’

THE widow of a policeman murdered by a psychotic asylum seeker described today how she felt as if she had "lost a limb".

Nigerian-born Tennyson Obih, 29, was convicted of murder after knifing Pc Jon Henry, 36, twice in the chest as he tried to arrest him in Luton town centre in June 2007.

In an impact statement read to Luton crown court today, Mary Henry said: "I felt lost. I was often asked how I felt about the offender and whether I was angry and I wasn't. I felt numb. No amount of anger or hate can change what he has done to us."

Describing the moment she was told of her husband's death in hospital, she said: "I was upset but very calm. I felt totally in limbo, like I was in purgatory."

Obih, who was beset by schizophrenic hallucinations caused by a long addiction to drink and cannabis abuse, had earlier attacked two window cleaners.

He stabbed the policeman in such a frenzy that a baton round and Taser gun shot failed to stop him.
He was finally brought down by a second Taser shot. At court he admitted killing Pc Henry but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. However, a jury convicted him of the murder charge.

Obih was set to be sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Bean, but is likely to be sent back to the secure mental hospital in Rampton, Nottinghamshire.