Andrew Pennington

Andrew James Pennington GM (1 February 1960 - 28 January 2000) was a British politician, and a posthumous recipient of the George Medal in 2001.

Andrew Pennington was the Liberal Democrat county councillor for Hesters Way in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. He was killed, aged 39, on January 28, 2000 whilst intervening to assist Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones when he was attacked by a constituent with a samurai sword.

The citation of the George Medal reads:

For his actions in saving the life of a man who had been attacked by another man armed with a samurai sword.

On 28 January 2000, a Member of Parliament was holding a surgery for his constituents at his office in Cheltenham. Mr Andrew Pennington was assisting him when the receptionist showed a man into the office. The MP invited the man, who was wearing a full-length overcoat buttoned up to the neck, to sit down but the man declined and stood in front of the MP while he read a letter on which he had been asked to advise. A short conversation took place between them, whilst Mr Pennington looked on, but then the man began to talk nonsensically and without warning reached into his coat and drew out a long curved sword. He stood with the sword raised above his head in both hands, and as the MP stood up, lowered it, pointing the sword tip at the MP’s midriff. At this point, Mr Pennington ran to the door of the office and called to the receptionist to get help.

Suddenly, the man lunged forward and thrust the sword at the MP who managed to deflect it with his left arm before grabbing the blade with both hands. The man tried to pull the sword from the MP’s grip and he fell face down onto the sofa with the sword beneath him. The man fell on top of him and struggled to wrestle the sword free without success. Mr Pennington then hit the man from behind and dragged him off the MP, telling the MP to get away. The MP managed to escape and ran out of the office to summon help, but the man got hold of the sword again. A violent struggle then took place in which Mr Pennington tried to restrain the man but was stabbed repeatedly with the sword and was fatally wounded. Mr Pennington died shortly afterwards from his injuries and the man was later arrested.

External links

• BBC News: "Medal for man who died saving MP"
• BBC News: "Lib Dems mourn lost councillor"