Woman in custody after four men stabbed in London’s Covent Garden
A 47-year-old woman is in custody after four men were stabbed in Covent Garden, one of central London’s busiest tourist districts, on Wednesday afternoon. Po...
A 47-year-old woman is in custody after four men were stabbed in Covent Garden, one of central London’s busiest tourist districts, on Wednesday afternoon. Police said they believe the attack was an isolated incident linked to mental health.
The men, aged 34, 39, 42 and 52, were hurt on Endell Street, near bars, theatres and restaurants packed with late-summer foot traffic. Two were taken to hospital and remain under treatment for injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening or life-changing. The other two have been discharged.
Police treat it as isolated
Metropolitan Police arrested the woman on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and assault. Officers believe the weapon was a pair of scissors. She remained in custody on Thursday as detectives continued their inquiries.
Ch Supt Jason Stewart said on Wednesday that, at an early stage of the investigation, police believed it was “an isolated, mental-health related incident”. He said a visible police presence would stay in the area while officers gathered evidence.
Scene near homeless centre
The stabbings happened close to the St Mungo’s homeless centre in Covent Garden. A spokesperson for the charity said on Thursday that it was still working with emergency services and carrying out welfare checks on residents.
Witnesses and local workers described a chaotic scene. One account from the area suggested the victims were picked at random, while London’s air ambulance was sent to the scene and landed in nearby Trafalgar Square before the injured men were taken by road to a major trauma centre.
The attack briefly disrupted one of London’s most visited districts. Covent Garden usually draws office workers, tourists and theatre-goers in equal measure, and Wednesday’s stabbing prompted a heavy emergency response in the middle of the day.
Police have not said what led up to the assault, and investigators are still piecing together the sequence of events on Endell Street. For now, one fact remains at the centre of the inquiry: four men were stabbed, and two are still in hospital.
