Essa Suleiman was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a double stabbing in Golders Green.
The suspect in the Golders Green terror attack has been named as Essa Suleiman, a Somali-born British man who was jailed for stabbing a police officer and his dog.
Suleiman, 45, who arrived in the UK as a child, was arrested on Wednesday after two Jewish men were stabbed in an alleged anti-Semitic terror attack.
Both victims were recovering in hospital as Suleiman continued to be questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.
In 2008, Suleiman was jailed indefinitely following a violent altercation in Swindon in which he stabbed PC Neil Sampson.
The officer had been responding to reports of a knife incident at a property in the Wiltshire town when he was attacked by Suleiman, who was 27 at the time.
Sampson required five months off work after he was repeatedly stabbed in the head, face and leg with what was believed to be a bread knife. His dog, Anya, was also knifed in the chest, Swindon Crown Court heard.
The judge at his trial handed Suleiman an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence and recommended he only be released when he was no longer considered a risk to the public.
At the time, Andy Marsh, the assistant chief constable of Wiltshire Police, said: “The most important thing is a very dangerous man has now been taken off the streets with an indeterminate public protection sentence.
“He won’t be released until someone doesn’t think he is a threat to the public any more.”
It is understood Suleiman, who now lives in southeast London, has convictions for other violent offences as well as a long history of mental health issues.
In 2020, Suleiman was referred to the Government’s counter-extremism Prevent programme, but his case was closed later that year.
The Telegraph understands the referral took place while Suleiman was serving a custodial sentence.
Before his 2008 conviction, Suleiman had worked as a Somali interpreter for the Metropolitan Police.
It has emerged that police were already hunting him before the attack in Golders Green, following a separate knife incident in south London hours earlier.
He was being sought in connection with an altercation in Great Dover St in Southwark, which occurred at around 8.50am on Wednesday.
Officers were called to reports of a man allegedly armed with a knife involved in an altercation inside a property.
Police, who arrived within six minutes of receiving the report, found the occupant suffering from minor injuries and discovered the suspect had already fled.
Officers were unable to locate him despite searching the area and attending a home address linked to him.
Less than three hours later, at 11.16am, Scotland Yard received reports that two men had been stabbed 12km away in the largely Jewish neighbourhood of Golders Green.
Officers, supported by members of Shomrim, a Jewish security group, Tasered and arrested the suspect, who was still carrying a knife.
He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. It is understood he required medical treatment at the scene and was transferred to hospital before being discharged and taken into custody.
A worker at a supported living property where Suleiman had lived previously said: “He was okay, he wasn’t a violent person. He would go to the shops to get his diabetes medication but he was a quiet person. He had no hobbies.
“He lived here for a year. He didn’t have a job. He lived upstairs. He would enjoy his coffee. I didn’t see anybody come here. He had no visitors.
“He wanted to move back to Camberwell. He spent most of his time indoors.”
Another support worker at the property said, “We knew from the photo. It was a shock. When he was here, he was so calm. He wasn’t violent.
“He moved out early last year. He didn’t like to socialise.”
On Thursday evening, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised Britain’s terrorism threat level to “severe” following the attacks.
Severe is the second-highest of five threat levels, below critical, meaning an attack is expected imminently.
The last time the threat level was raised to severe was in November 2021, following a car explosion outside a Liverpool hospital on Remembrance Sunday and the murder of David Amess, the Conservative MP, a month before.
Shloime Rand, the 34-year-old victim of the Golders Green stabbing, was attacked shortly after leaving a synagogue where he had been teaching. He described his survival as a “very big miracle”.
“I feel like God’s given me back my life. I am really happy that it was only these injuries; it wasn’t worse. I would have been even happier if nothing would have happened, but you know, in this situation I’m very happy that I survived and I can talk,” he said.
The stabbings were the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish targets in north London in recent weeks.
Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to take tougher action to protect British Jews, having been accused of “weakness” by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister was heckled with shouts of “traitor” and “Keir Starmer, Jew harmer” when he visited Golders Green on Thursday.
Speaking in Downing St later, he acknowledged that Jewish people in the UK were “scared”.
Addressing the nation from Downing St, he said: “This Government will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out, we will strengthen our security and protect our Jewish community.
“But I also call on everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering and Jewish fear.”
Starmer, who is facing calls to ban pro-Palestine marches, backed the prosecution of people at such events chanting “globalise the intifada”.
He said: “If you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews.
“If you stand alongside people who say, ‘globalise the Intifada’, you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.
“It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong.”
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.