SENIOR ARMY OFFICER STABBED OUTSIDE BARRACKS

THIS is the dramatic moment an alleged "masked moped knifeman" was arrested over the stabbing of an Army officer in front of his wife.

- Ciaran McGrath

The unnamed soldier, believed to be a lieutenant colonel in his 40s, was stabbed up to 12 times. Nearby residents heard "blood-curdling screams" as a man with two knives struck the uniformed victim near his house.

The soldier's wife fought desperately to drag the knifeman clear but he continued his frenzied assault. Doorbell video from a neighbour recorded a woman screaming hysterically: "What the **** are you doing?... ****ing hell!... Somebody call 999!" The attacker was said by one witness to have licked a bloodied knife before fleeing on a red moped from the scene near Brompton Barracks in Gillingham, Kent.

Half an hour later residents two miles away saw a man in a ski mask and NASA bomber jacket arrested and handcuffed by police who leapt from an unmarked vehicle.

Kent Police said it was being helped by counter-terror officers to investigate the attack. It was not initially treated as terrorism and "may be mental health-related".

A man aged 24 was being questioned in custody last night. Several knives were picked up at the scene.

The wounded officer was last night serious but stable in hospital.

The screams of his wife were caught on the doorcam of Alex Reynolds on Tuesday evening.

Commodities analyst Alex, 38, said: "At first, we thought it was a scuffle in the street. But you could then hear the piercing shrieks of the voices and you realise that it was something much more.

"Seconds later, I walked out into the road and I can see 10 people around a body. The victim was wearing military uniform as many people around here do.

"I spoke to someone who worked with him and he said he always walked out at that time.

Uniform

"His wife was running around screaming, asking for help." One witness saw a man pull up on a moped before the officer was knifed: "The attacker was going for him and stabbed him about 12 times. This was with two kitchen knives, about nine to 10in long.