Man given hospital order for bow attacks

A MAN who used a high-powered hunting crossbow to shoot and injure two people in random and unprovoked attacks in west London has been given a hospital order.

At just after 8pm on September 14, 2020, Andrew Ramdeen, 30, shot a 33-year-old man in the torso from six feet with a crossbow bolt in Pield Heath Road, Uxbridge.

The man suffered a ruptured aortic artery and punctured internal organs, losing five litres of blood, with the Metropolitan Police saying his life was “undoubtedly saved” due to the expertise and skill of medical staff.

A month earlier he shot a 19-year-old man from 146ft at just before 10.30pm in The Greenway, with a bolt slicing the victim’s ear.

Police said the victim’s injury was not life-threatening but a slight variation in the course of the bolt “could have been fatal”.

Yesterday, Ramdeen, of Green Lane, Northwood, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court to a section 37 hospital order after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent following the attacks, according to the force.

The judge said he considered Randeem dangerous and that, had a hospital order not been an option, he would have passed a sentence of 14 years and nine months.

Detectives linked the two incidents due to the location and weapon used. Police traced him through a van spotted at the scene. Detective Inspector Daniel McInerney said: “It’s no exaggeration to say that in both instances the difference between life and death was but a matter of millimetres.

“If the variation of the bolts had been ever so slightly different, two sets of families would have lost a loved one and we’d have been looking at two very different investigations.”