Naked Carpenter, 48, attempts to murder cop during arrest for indecent exposure

A naturist known as ‘The Naked Carpenter’ allegedly attempted to murder a police officer by stabbing him in the head, face, and neck with a pair of scissors, according to a court case.

Robert Jenner, 50, is facing charges related to the assault on Kent Police constable Sean Quinn, who sustained multiple wounds on June 15, 2023, at Jenner’s residence in Maidstone.

Pc Quinn had visited the flat to apprehend Jenner for indecently exposing himself to women when he was reportedly assaulted and stabbed 23 times by the defendant. This left him with a severe injury on his forehead, revealing his skull.

A trial at Maidstone Crown Court saw ‘upsetting’ body-worn footage of a topless Jenner barricaded in his flat with a sofa, while Pc Quinn shouts ‘put those f****** scissors down now’.

The officer then gets into the room where the defendant ‘launched’ himself, stabbing Pc Quinn who is seen screaming for help with a bloodied face.

Jenner only stopped the assault when a fellow officer got into the flat and punched him in the head five or six times to force him to drop the scissors, jurors were told.

Opening the case, prosecutor Daniel Stevenson, said: ‘The Crown’s case is that by attacking Sean Quinn in the way in which he did, stabbing him multiple times to the head, face and neck, by choosing to do that, he must have been trying to do more than causing really serious injury, he must have been trying to end his life.’

Jenner, whose nickname is ‘The Naked Carpenter’, has gained notoriety in the past for his revealing behaviour and claims to have been a naturist for more than 20 years and to have served in the army for 10 years.

He reportedly also was a member of the Naturist Society, taking part in naked swims and visiting nudist beaches in France, Spain and Kent’s Isle of Sheppey.

The court heard Jenner had gone to Maidstone police station earlier that day to ask for his see-through clothing back from officers that had previously been seized.

Officers refused as they believed he would wear them and commit another offence, and Jenner replied: ‘I’m going to strip off now w******,’ jurors were told.

At 7.50pm that evening, Kent Police received a report of a man running naked in Mote Park, in Maidstone, ‘nipping in and out of bushes exposing himself to women’.

The court heard officers Pc Quinn and colleague Pc Ashley Bates suspected it to be Jenner, having dealt with him in the past, and decided to visit his address where the confrontation took place.

Pc Quinn was bleeding heavily from his wounds, with pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow documenting 23 separate injuries – most of them, 19, to the face, head and neck area.

The prosecutor said a degree of moderate to severe force would have been needed to sustain some of the full-depth injuries.

Following the incident, Jenner was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, who said: ‘I didn’t mean to do it’, and ‘is he okay?’, before adding: ‘F*** oh mate, I didn’t want this to happen, I didn’t want it to come to this’.

Mr Stevenson said Jenner’s defence is that he was acting to defend himself from what he believed was an unlawful arrest or unlawful entry to his flat, and that he did not intend to kill or seriously injure Pc Quinn.

But the prosecutor added the pathologist evidence shows the wounds ‘had the potential to be fatal’ had they struck one of the major arteries, and that is why the defendant chose to stab that area of the body.

‘(Pc Quinn) was wearing a stab-proof vest, what was exposed was his face, head and neck,’ he said.

‘That is what the Crown say he had in mind, this defendant, for whatever reason, he chose in that moment to to try and end that police officer’s life and continued to do so even when other officers came into the room.

‘That is why we say he is guilty of attempted murder.’

Jenner is also charged with wounding with intent and denies both allegations.

The trial continues.