IN BRIEF
- UK police have charged a 45-year-old man over the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London.
- He has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place.
A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder in the stabbings of two Jewish men in London.
Police said Essa Suleiman faces two counts of the charge related to the attack in Golders Green.
He also faces a third count of attempted murder over an incident elsewhere in the city earlier on Wednesday morning (local time) that left a man with minor injuries.
Suleiman, 45, a Somalia-born British citizen who lives in London, appeared in a London court on Friday.
He appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of the attempted murder of 34-year-old Shloime Rand and 76-year-old Moshe Shine — named in the charges as Norman Shine — and possession of a bladed article in relation to the attack.
Suleiman was remanded in custody and will appear at London's Old Bailey court on 15 May.
Police earlier said that Rand had been released from the hospital, while Shine remained in a stable condition.
The British government pledged to tackle antisemitism after the stabbings in an area in north London that is an epicentre of Britain's Jewish community.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would increase security for the Jewish community.
Britain's official terrorism threat level was raised from substantial to severe after the stabbing attack.
Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale and means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.
Police say Suleiman was referred in 2020 to the government's Prevent program, which tries to steer individuals away from extremism.
The police force said his file was closed later the same year, and did not disclose the reason for the referral.
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