A schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a musician during an Islamic State-inspired rampage at a Tube station has been sentenced to life in prison.
Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year.
He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and attempted to murder the 56-year-old after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road.
Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before being considered for parole. He will start his sentence at Broadmoor mental hospital in Berkshire, the establishment which the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper, Charles Bronson and Ronnie Kray have been sent.
Leytonstone Tube attack: Isil-inspired knifeman jailed for life after targeting strangers at Underground station
Telegraph Reporters
1 August 2016
A schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a musician during an Islamic State-inspired rampage at a Tube station has been sentenced to life in prison.
Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year.
He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and attempted to murder the 56-year-old after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road.
Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before being considered for parole, and will start his sentence at Broadmoor secure hospital.
The moment Muhiddin Mire cut the throat of a random stranger Credit: CPS/PA
The whole incident was caught on shocking CCTV and mobile phone footage taken by a passer-by who bravely carried on filming even as Mire lunged at him with the rusty blade.
One onlooker shouted at him: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv", after he declared he was going to "spill blood" for his "Syrian brothers".
Muhaydin Mire appearing in court for a previous hearing Credit: Elizabeth Cook/PA
Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, Recorder of London, said that while he accepted Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he was also of the opinion he had been motivated by events in Syria.
He continued: "In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here.
"That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause."
A police officer Tasers Mire during the incident
Judge Hilliard added that Mire's "brazen" actions were carried out in order to advance a "religious and extremist cause".
"This was an attempt to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact," he said.
Flanked by several dock officers and wearing a blue tracksuit top, Mire stared ahead as he was sentenced.
The attack took place on a Saturday night shortly before Christmas
The Yorkshire Ripper, Charles Bronson, Ronnie Kray and the Son of God Killer are amongst the notorious patients to have attended Broadmoor mental hospital
Leytonstone Tube attack:*Isil-inspired knifeman jailed for life after targeting strangers at*Underground station
Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year.
He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and attempted to murder the 56-year-old after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road.
Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before being considered for parole. He will start his sentence at Broadmoor mental hospital in Berkshire, the establishment which the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper, Charles Bronson and Ronnie Kray have been sent.
Leytonstone Tube attack: Isil-inspired knifeman jailed for life after targeting strangers at Underground station
Telegraph Reporters
1 August 2016
A schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a musician during an Islamic State-inspired rampage at a Tube station has been sentenced to life in prison.
Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year.
He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and attempted to murder the 56-year-old after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road.
Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before being considered for parole, and will start his sentence at Broadmoor secure hospital.
The moment Muhiddin Mire cut the throat of a random stranger Credit: CPS/PA
The whole incident was caught on shocking CCTV and mobile phone footage taken by a passer-by who bravely carried on filming even as Mire lunged at him with the rusty blade.
One onlooker shouted at him: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv", after he declared he was going to "spill blood" for his "Syrian brothers".
Muhaydin Mire appearing in court for a previous hearing Credit: Elizabeth Cook/PA
Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, Recorder of London, said that while he accepted Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he was also of the opinion he had been motivated by events in Syria.
He continued: "In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here.
"That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause."
A police officer Tasers Mire during the incident
Judge Hilliard added that Mire's "brazen" actions were carried out in order to advance a "religious and extremist cause".
"This was an attempt to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact," he said.
Flanked by several dock officers and wearing a blue tracksuit top, Mire stared ahead as he was sentenced.
The attack took place on a Saturday night shortly before Christmas
The Yorkshire Ripper, Charles Bronson, Ronnie Kray and the Son of God Killer are amongst the notorious patients to have attended Broadmoor mental hospital
Leytonstone Tube attack:*Isil-inspired knifeman jailed for life after targeting strangers at*Underground station
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