A knifeman who launched an attack in Marks & Spencer because he believed the store funded Israel would have killed a customer had his weapon not jammed in her handbag strap, a jury heard on Wednesday.

Munawar Hussain, 58, had just stabbed the store’s female manager in the neck before he launched himself at the shopper, Janet Dell, on the morning of 2 December, 2020.

The defendant later said he carried out the attacks in Burnley, Lancashire, because he believed the retailer funded Israel in what he described as its “persecution” of Palestine.

Mrs Dell told police she was buying Christmas gifts for her family when she heard a scream and then saw a woman run towards her with an elderly Asian man chasing.

She said: “I sort of froze and I was trying to register what was going on. Before I saw the knife I thought at first she was a shoplifter. Within seconds he has turned and I felt something go into my arm. It was a stinging sensation. I thought, ‘Has he just stabbed me?’”

Mrs Dell slipped in her own blood and a struggle ensued as she got up. She said she then felt “something on her back” before her assailant ran off.

It was only when she was sat down and was tended to by M&S staff that she realised a knife blade was embedded in the leather strap of her bag over her right shoulder.

She said: “If he had the knife I am convinced he would have used it again. I think he was trying to kill me.

“His eyes were dark and determined. It was like a stare, a penetrating stare.”

The store manager, Samantha Worthington, told police she too thought the mask-wearing Hussain was trying to kill her as his eyes “looked pure evil”.

She went on: “If I had fallen, he would have killed me. I just thought, ‘This f****r is not having me, I’ve got three kids and he is not taking me away from my kids.’

“I’m lucky to be here.”

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court have heard Ms Worthington suffered a collapsed lung and nerve damage from the blow, which passed near to her jugular vein.

Mrs Dell sustained two wounds to her left forearm.

Hussain was detained outside by a store detective and following his arrest, a note, written in Urdu, was discovered on him which read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks Spencer helping you financially.”

He later told police that had his knife not broken he would have gone on to kill others.

He said that he expected that the police might kill him and he intended to be a martyr.

Jurors were told Hussain, formerly of Murray Street, Burnley, does not dispute stabbing the women and the issue for them to decide on his intent.

Hussain denies two counts of attempted murder. The trial continues.