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Man pleads guilty to New Year's Eve knife attack in Manchester Man pleads guilty to New Year's Eve knife attack in Manchester
(about 1 hour later)
Mahdi Mohamud admits terrorism offence and three counts of attempted murderMahdi Mohamud admits terrorism offence and three counts of attempted murder
A man who launched a knife attack on commuters and police at Manchester Victoria railway station on New Year’s Eve has pleaded guilty to attempted murder. A man who stabbed three people at Manchester’s Victoria train station on New Year’s Eve has admitted to attempted murder.
Mahdi Mohamud, 26, raised a fillet knife and walked up behind James Knox, shouting Islamist slogans as he stabbed him repeatedly in the back, shoulders and head. He then turned on Knox’s companion, Anna Charlton, and slashed her across the face. The couple, in their 50s, had been heading for a tram platform shortly before 9pm on 31 December. Mahdi Mohamud, 26, launched the attack on a couple in their 50s – whose injuries included a fractured skull and a punctured lung – and a police officer, Sgt Lee Valentine.
PCs Ashleigh Williams, 27, and her colleague Marsha Selby, 28, from the British Transport police ran to the scene after hearing screaming. Along with two tram staff, they confronted Mohamud. Witnesses said he was “like an animal” and was “fixated” on stabbing and slashing. The defendant, who had lived in the Cheetham Hill area of the city, stabbed James Knox repeatedly in the back, shoulders and head with a fillet knife, while shouting Islamist slogans.
The suspect was pepper-sprayed. Shortly afterwards, PC Tom Wright arrived with Sgt Lee Valentine who shot Mohamud with his Taser. But the barbs of the 50,000-volt shock-gun got stuck in his thick coat and failed to paralyse him. Mohamud then ran along the platform charging at the officers. Valentine was stabbed in the shoulder before the suspect was wrestled to the ground and arrested. A second kitchen knife was found in his waistband. He also slashed Knox’s partner, Anna Charlton, across the face as they headed toward a tram platform at about 9pm on 31 December 2018.
Knox suffered 13 injuries including a fractured skull while Charlton’s right lung was punctured and she suffered a slash to her forehead that cut down to the bone. Mohamud was confronted by two British Transport Police officers and tram staff after they heard screaming. He was tasered by Valentine, 31, but the barbs of the 50,000-volt stun-gun became tangled in his thick coat and failed to paralyse him.
The defendant, a Dutch national from a Somali family, had arrived in the UK aged nine and became radicalised online, Greater Manchester police said. He was detained under the Mental Health Act the day after the attack but was later found fit to stand trial. The defendant began charging at police on the platform before he stabbed Valentine in the shoulder. A second kitchen knife was found in his waistband as he was wrestled to the ground and arrested by officers. Another knife was later found in the sleeve of his coat.
On Tuesday, Mohamud pleaded guilty at Manchester crown court to three counts of attempted murder. He pleaded guilty at Manchester crown court on Tuesday to three counts of attempted murder and to possessing a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing for an act of terrorism.
He also admitted one count of the possession of a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, a manual entitled “The seven most lethal ways to strike with a knife”. He is said to have become radicalised online, accessing extremist materials including on how to “aid jihad” and “the most lethal ways to strike with a knife”.
He will be sentenced later. Mohamud, a Dutch national from a Somali family, had moved to the UK with his family aged nine. Between 2012 and 2013, he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Leeds. In 2015, he experienced mental health issues that led to him being admitted as an inpatient and being diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis.
Although he was detained under the Mental Health Act the day after the attack, he was later found fit to stand trial.
A group of the defendant’s friends told Greater Manchester police he had joined in with a Fifa computer game tournament on Christmas Day, during which he had “laughed and joked” with them and “seemed completely normal”.
Mohamud will be sentenced later.