A man who sent a town centre into terror after launching a knife rampage with a deadly blade he had hidden inside a pizza box was fought off by a fearless shop worker who defended himself with a mop. Seconds earlier Mareez Bachu, 20, had stormed into the store armed before pulling the large knife out of the take-away box on the stunned employee - who managed to protect himself with the mop handle and a wet floor sign.

Moments later CCTV captured three young men entering the Premier convenience store in Plymouth town centre unaware of the drama unfolding inside. Bachu then turns on them, lunges at them and chases them out of the shop while pointing the knife. One of the men said they suddenly spotted shop staff who “were all looking really worried” before the mop-wielding worker yelled “leave now, he’s got a knife”.

The man said Bachu followed them outside and they decided to tackle the knifeman by “rushing him”. However, their attempt to disarm Bachu went sour and, as CCTV shown to the jury during the trial at Plymouth Crown Court, showed Bachu pursue another man, who was unwittingly walking home from work, who he chased before cornering outside the Dominos pizza shop where staff had just locked their doors.

Chilling CCTV retrieved by police showed Batchu catching up with the victim and plunging a knife twice into his abdomen.

Before collapsing the victim managed to push Bachu away as other members of the public rushed to his aid.

When police arrived Bachu was still slashing out towards officers, before being stopped in his tracks by an officer using an incapacitant spray that prompted him to drop his knife.

He was taken into custody and later charged with attempted murder and remanded at Langdon Hospital - a psychiatric hospital which provides secure mental health services.

Asa result of the assault, the victim was rushed to hospital with serious and potentially life-threatening injuries including a collapsed lung and perforated diaphragm.

He underwent emergency surgery but a court heard how he has required a “significant time” in recovery.

Bachu, from Ebrington Street, Plymouth, previously pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, possession of a bladed article in a public place, assaulting a police officer, and affray.

During a trial in February, he was found not guilty of attempted murder and wounding with intent during the incident on Plymouth’s Belgrave Road, on Mutley Plain, on 8 April 2022.

Bachu, now 23, has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was given an indefinite hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act by a judge at Truro Crown Court on Thursday.

That means he will be detained at a secure psychiatric hospital for an indeterminate time until he is mentally fit enough to be released - but only with consent from the Secretary of State.

Judge Simon Carr said there was "no doubt at all" Bachu was "very ill indeed" at the time of the incident and there was no dispute that Bachu was the person who had carried out the attack but said that the level of Bachu's delusion and paranoia was so great that he was too ill to have formed the intent to have carried out the offences.

Det Sgt Andrew Trott-Rodgers of Devon and Cornwall Police said officers and members of the public had "reacted with immense courage" by confronting Bachu who was "still waving the knife around", adding: "Bachu will now remain in a safe place to get the treatment he needs."

Defence barrister Hannah Hurley said Bachu's family had been trying to get help for him “over many years including on the night of the incident” and the circumstances “could have been avoided if the right help had arrived at the right time”.