This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

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, 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.

The defendant, who had lived in the Cheetham Hill area of the city, ran behind James Knox before repeatedly stabbing him in the back, shoulders and head with a fillet knife, while shouting Islamist slogans.

He also slashed Knox’s partner, Anna Charlton, across the face as they headed towards a tram platform at about 9pm on 31 December 2018.

Mohamud was confronted by two British Transport police officers and tram staff after they heard screaming. He was Tasered by Valentine, 31, but the probes of the 50,000-volt stun gun became tangled in his thick puffer coat and failed to paralyse him.

The defendant began charging at police on the platform before he stabbed Valentine in the shoulder. A second kitchen knife was later found concealed in the defendant’s coat as he was led to a police van.

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 is said to have become radicalised online, accessing extremist materials including how to “aid jihad” and “the seven most lethal ways to strike with a knife”. He also downloaded speeches by Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Islamist hate preacher who was killed in a drone strike in 2011 in Yemen.

Detectives from Greater Manchester police believe Mohamud, a Dutch national, began planning for the attack towards the end of 2017, when he visited family in Somalia.

In video footage from police officers’ body-worn cameras, he can be heard repeatedly saying “this is for Allah” and “these attacks will never stop”.

He also told one officer: “Keep bombing Muslim countries, we’ll see what happens.” As footage of the incident was shown in court, the defendant held his hands to his ears inside the dock.

Mohamud moved to the UK with his family aged nine. Between 2012 and 2013, he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Leeds.

Since 2015, the defendant has experienced several inpatient stays in hospitals in both the UK and Somalia as a result of his mental health issues.

At the time of the attack, he was not subject to a care plan by mental health services, and had no criminal record.

Although he was detained under the Mental Health Act the day after the attack, he was later found fit to stand trial.

In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, Valentine said he had diagnosed with trauma-related stress as a result of the incident. His partner, a police officer who witnessed both the attacks on Knox and Charlton and on Valentine, had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mohamud will be sentenced later.