True Crime Collection

Nina Mackay

WPC Nina Alexandra Mackay was a police officer serving with London's Metropolitan Police Service. Nina was from Essex, the only daughter of Sidney Mackay, a former chief superintendent with the Metropolitan Police Service. She attended Davenant Foundation School, Loughton, Essex from 1983-1990. 

Nina joined the Metropolitan Police and served in the service's Territorial Support Group for 5 years until her death.

On 24th October 1997, Nina went with colleagues to a property in Arthingworth Street in Stratford, East London, to arrest a man who was in breach of bail conditions.

After removing her protective vest for ease of movement and then forcing entry into the bedsit, Nina led her colleagues into the hallway, where she was confronted by a man armed with a knife with a 7 1/2 inch blade. He stabbed the officer once in the abdomen. She was taken to hospital by ambulance but died 2 hours later from her injuries. The suspect was arrested and later charged with her murder.

At the Old Bailey in October 1998, Magdi Elgizouli, an unemployed man with paranoid schizophrenia was convicted of Nina's manslaughter. The British born 30 year old of Sudanese origin had been charged with murder but the jury accepted his defence of diminished responsibility. He was detained indefinitely, initially at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire and later at St. Bernard's Hospital in West London.

It was subsequently reported that prior to killing Nina, Magdi had served time in prison for shoplifting, was on bail for assaulting a police officer and possessing a knife, and had stopped taking his medication for his schizophrenia. He had also smoked cannabis, which had apparently exacerbated his condition, and he had an expressed hatred of the police.

A 1999 inquiry into Nina's death criticised the Metropolitan Police for not attempting to have a family member persuade Magdi to leave the flat peacefully, and recommended that mentally ill people should be given greater support and that guidance on helping patients take their medication needed to be improved. Despite calls from Nina's family, the report did not recommend that patients be compelled to take their medication. 

In 2008 Magdi was granted day release from his secure unit for 4 hours per week, plus a further 5 hours once each month to visit his brother. After 4 years of occasional day release, in 2012 it was reported that Magdi was to be moved from the secure unit to a community hostel with full freedom of movement. Due to his expressed hatred of the police, he was to be housed in an suburban area of London with few police on patrol.

In 1998, the Police Memorial Trust erected a memorial to Nina at the place on Arthingworth Street in Stratford where she was stabbed. The memorial was unveiled by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit has a Botnia Targa 31 boat named Nina Mackay II and there is a road in Stratford called Nina Mackay Close.