Leicester Square stabbing: Security guard disarms man after girl and woman stabbed

Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, in charge of policing for Westminster, said: “This is a horrific incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family. We will continue to provide support to them over the coming days and weeks.

“I would like to pay tribute to the members of the public, including staff from local businesses, who bravely intervened in this incident. They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so.

“An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened.

“At this stage we don’t believe the suspect and the victims were known to each other.”

An individual working at a nearby business told The Independent he believed he had seen the suspect around 90 minutes before the attack, pacing and talking to himself in an agitated manner.

The man was of white ethnicity in his mid-30s and was wearing a black top and trousers, but no hat, and appeared to potentially be homeless, said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous.

The employee said he first noticed the man because of his agitated state at around 10am near the eventual scene of the attack, which took place at 11:36am.

The man was alone and had remained in the area for at least an hour prior to the attack, he told The Independent’s Andy Gregory.

“We see people like this every day and can recognise them. I hadnt seen him before, today was the first time I saw him.”

The milling crowds of tourists ambling through London’s Leicester Square cut a stark contrast to the crime scene cordoned off at its northeastern edge, writes Andy Gregory from the scene.

As police officers patrol the scene swarmed by news crews both local and international, street artists continue to paint caricatures just yards away, while some apparently oblivious tourists continue to pose for photographs.

As one passerby was informed of the stabbing, she could be heard remarking at the edge of the crime scene: ‘Oh that’s why the shop is closed then.”

A witness said the suspect in the attack in Leicester Square was a young, white, skinny male wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.

The witness, who gave his name as Desmond, 45, said the knifeman focused the attack on the girl, putting her in a headlock and stabbing her.

Desmond, 45, who performs as Darth Vader on the square “every day”, told reporters: “When I looked to my side I saw a young man… was stabbing her several (times) with a knife.

“Before I could jump down to go (over there), two guys were just passing, and they grab him, they put him on the ground, and immediately the police came. I think the woman was also stabbed once, but the child was the most targeted, he was stabbing the child several times. Police held him and stood him up and cuffed him.”

Street entertainer who witnessed the ‘heartbreaking’ attack, and who did not want to be named, told The Independent that the suspect appeared to know the young girl who was attacked.

The witness claimed he tried to save the girl, who was targeted the most, Andy Gregory reports from the scene.

They said: “I saw a young man stab a girl and the mother, but the little girl was the most targeted.

“I think the mother was also stabbed one time because when she was screaming, I tried to save this child and I saw when he did this.

“This heartbroken, you know, and this is life.”

Asked whether the attacker could have known the victims, he replied: “Maybe they have issue and there is a provocation or he planned to do this and they did it the long time”