Man, 26, pleads guilty to attempting to murder two commuters and police officer who came to their aid in New Year’s Eve terror knife attack at Manchester station
- Mahdi Mohamud, 26, today pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder
- The 26-year-old shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Long Live the Caliphate’ in attack
- He stabbed Anna Charlton and James Knox at Manchester Victoria Station
- He also slashed officer Lee Valentine as he was Tasered and pepper sprayed
- Mohamud was found to be in possession of a terror manual titled ‘the seven most lethal ways to strike with a knife’
A lone-wolf terrorist who launched a frenzied knife attack at Manchester Victoria train station last New Year’s Eve has pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder.
Mahdi Mohamud, 26, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar!’ and ‘Long live the Caliphate!’ as he stabbed and slashed at Anna Charlton and James Knox, a couple in their 50s who were walking to a tram platform.
Mr Knox suffered 13 injuries from the fillet knife, including a skull fracture, and Ms Charlton’s right lung was punctured and she suffered a slash to her forehead that cut down to the bone.
He also stabbed British Transport Police (BTP) Sergeant Lee Valentine, 31, in the shoulder as he was Tasered and pepper sprayed before being arrested.
Mohamud, a Dutch national from a Somali family but who moved to the UK aged nine, was later found to be in possession of a terror publication titled, ‘the seven most lethal ways to strike with a knife’.
A man and a woman were pictured receiving treatment after the incident last New Year’s Eve
The defendant, from Cheetham Hill, Manchester, pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to three counts of attempted murder and one count of the possession of a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
The unemployed former university engineering student had become radicalised online, it is understood.
More follows.