Suspect Essa Suleiman has been charged with the attempted murder of three men [Getty]
The sole suspect in the Golders Green stabbings on Wednesday had left a mental health hospital just days before the attacks, according to reports.
Channel 4 News reported that the suspected attacker, British national Essa Suleiman, had left the Maudsley Hospital “in the days before the attack”, without giving further information.
Suleiman’s history of mental health issues and serious violence was also confirmed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, who said that the suspect had been previously admitted to mental health facilities.
Elsewhere, UK counter-terrorism police said that Suleiman was known to the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy Prevent.
“We can confirm the suspect was known to the Prevent programme and was subject to a Prevent referral in 2020, which was closed in the same year,” the police said in a statement.
Police said that the investigation into Suleiman was being led by counter-terrorism police and the UK’s domestic security service MI5.
However, on Friday Suleiman appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court and was charged with the attempted murder of three men, including two Jewish men in Golders Green, north London, and a man named as Ishmail Hussein in south London.
The attack on Hussein, reported to be a long-time acquaintance of Suleiman, took place on Wednesday morning at Hussein’s flat after a personal dispute, according to reports.
Suleiman is also facing a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.
‘Rising antisemitism’
The attacks have reignited discussions in the UK about an alleged rise in antisemitism, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer accusing Iran of wanting “to harm British Jews”.
“We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran, because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews,” he said in a statement delivered from Downing Street.
Starmer also called an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBRA) meeting in the aftermath of the attacks.
Starmer’s statements came as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin, a shadowy group which claims to be linked to Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram. Little is known about the group, which appeared on social media networks amid the recent US-Israel war on Iran.
The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on Jewish community ambulances earlier this year; however, charges later brought against four people over the incident did not appear to be terror-related, including arson with intent to damage, conspiracy to commit arson, and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
Questions around media coverage
Much of the media attention has focused on the stabbings of two Jewish men in north London, Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, with the attack on Hussein appearing to receive less coverage.
The UK’s public broadcaster, the BBC, reported Suleiman’s court appearance on Friday as being over the “attempted murder of two Jewish men”, without mention of the attack on Hussein, who is presumed to be from a Muslim background, in the report’s header.
The police were also accused of “glossing over” the attack on Hussein.
“He’s been charged with the attempted murders of three people. The third is Ishmail Hussein. Why don’t the Met Police mention that in their tweet? It’s buried in the press release, but why in practise downplay the gravity of the crime?” wrote journalist Owen Jones on X, in response to a tweet from the Metropolitan police which omitted mention of the attack against Hussein.
On social media, some have questioned the government’s escalated approach towards the incident, noting that hate crimes against other minority communities have not received similar focus.
“Any comment on the man who raped a Sikh woman solely because he thought she was Muslim?” one social media user said in reply to Starmer on social media, referring to a case which was concluded in April, with the attacker receiving a life sentence.
Similar questions were put to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who, in a recent interview with LBC host Nick Ferrari, appeared to imply that attacks on Black communities attract greater attention than those on the Jewish community.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel figures have called on the UK government to take action against mosques allegedly preaching hate, as well as for pro-Palestine and anti-war protests to be cancelled.
There have been no reported links between Suleiman and the pro-Palestine movement.
