A TERRORIST has today admitted attempted murder after knifing a couple at Manchester Victoria train station on New Year's Eve.

Mahdi Mohamud, 26, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" and "Long live the Caliphate!" as he stabbed Anna Charlton and James Knox near a busy platform.

Horrified passengers described hearing a "blood curdling scream" and were forced to run down the tracks after seeing him wielding a 12-inch kitchen knife.

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.

The couple, who are in their 50s, were rushed to hospital following the horror attack last year.

Pcs Ashleigh Williams, 27, and her colleague Marsha Selby, 28, along with two tram staff confronted Mohamud, who "like an animal" was "fixated" on stabbing and slashing, witnesses said.

The suspect was pepper sprayed before seconds later Pc Tom Wright, 27, arrived along with Sergeant Lee Valentine, 31, who shot Mohamud with his Taser.

But the barbs of the 50,000 volt shock gun got stuck in the knifeman's thick coat and failed to paralyse him.

Before he could reload, Mohamud ran along the blood-spattered platform charging at the officers with the weapon.

Sgt Valentine was stabbed in the shoulder before the suspect was wrestled to the ground and arrested. A second kitchen knife was found in his waistband.

The defendant, a Dutch national from a Somali family, had arrived in the UK aged nine and became radicalised online, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

He was detained under the Mental Health Act the day after the attack but was later found fit to stand trial.

Mohamud pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday to three counts of attempted murder.

He also admitted one count of the possession of a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, a manual titled, "the seven most lethal ways to strike with a knife".

He will be sentenced later.

Source: Read Full Article