A man has been charged with attempted murder of four women after they were attacked near a supermarket in South West London on 21 May. Ethem Aydin Orhon, 66, will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates Court following the 20 May incidents near a Sainsbury's in Richmond on Thames which left the women injured, Scotland Yard said in a statement.

He has been charged with four counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of an offensive weapon, they added.

All four woman remain in hospital where their condition was described as "stable" by London's Metropolitan Police, who said the elderly suspect was arrested shortly after the attacks.

Police had earlier said the most seriously injured of the women was aged 62, while the others were 67, 71 and 53.

A spokesman for the London ambulance service earlier said it had sent paramedics and an air ambulance to the scene after receiving a call at 10.38am.

"We treated four women at the scene for various stab wounds, including to the chest, legs and back," the spokesman said. "We took three women as a priority by road ambulance to a major trauma centre in south London. The air ambulance took the other woman as a priority to another major trauma centre in central London."