Eden Strang

Every now and then I read a story in the paper that leaves me in tears, and this one would have to be best of '99. It is without a doubt the funniest tale of the year, and I hope you all get as much of a chuckle out of it as I did, despite it's briefness.

Actually what I will do right now is ask any of you to send in any kind of update to the story that you know of, as I only have one very small story on the incident, and I just have to know more. But I guess we better move along to why I found it so funny.

On Sunday, November 28, 1999, 26-year-old Eden Strang took all of his clothes off and burst into St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in the southern London suburb of Thornton Heath.

A naked man in a church, that's pretty crazy, but why does he make it to the Wacky World of Murder I sense you thinking.

Well he did have one item with him, a gold and silver sword. As he streaked through the congregation at the church he also swung his silver and gold blade at those listening to God's words. 11 people were injured, none died.

The worst of the injuries were to Paul Chilton, 50. According to reports Strang cut through Chilton's jawbone with his 3-foot sword, slicing three front teeth off at the root. The blows severed his jugular vein and also cut off a thumb and a finger.

According to witnesses it was the elderly and those who were too slow or stunned to get out of the way took the brunt of the attack.

And even when they came to their senses and tries to get out of the church they were left slipping around in the blood in the aisles.

Eventually Strang was wrestled to the ground by a half dozen men. Tom Tracey, an off-duty police officer, ripped out an organ pipe and a bank clerk used a crucifix attached to a pole to subdue the man.

All a pretty funny scene when you picture it.

As I have no reports of the case after the initial incident I know of no motive for the crime, except that Strang was known to be "suffering some severe depression," so I guess this will just have to do until some lovely person fills me in on further developments to the story.

ADDED 8/01/01

Thanks to a lovely young lady in the UK I now have a little bit of added information on this case.

According to her it has since come out that the motive behind the bizarre attach was that Eden apparently thought that he was told by 'God' to kill those in the church who were 'demons'.

The case was concluded with Strang being found not guilty by reason of insanity. He has since been kept in a mental institution.

I also found out that at the time of his little 'breakdown' he had a girlfriend and child, with the girlfriend claiming that he was going psycho since finding a new religion.

According to another Brit that emailed me Strang had also completed a degree in computing, but was then unemployed for a lengthy period. Three weeks prior to the attack he worked as pizza delivery man.

UPDATE

Strange was released from prison in March 2002.