A terrorist who stabbed two women in a branch of Marks & Spencer because of the shop’s “Israel links” has been found guilty of attempted murder and wounding with intent at Manchester crown court.
Munawar Hussain, 59, stabbed the store manager in the neck before launching himself at a customer on the morning of December 2, 2020, in Burnley, Lancashire. Both victims survived.
Hussain said he carried out the attack because he believed the retailer funded Israel’s “persecution” of Palestine and carried a note on his person at the time of the attack that read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks & Spencer is helping you financially.”
Hussain said in court he had launched the attack so “Allah will not be upset with me or angry with me and he will be happy with me.”
He was inspired by Usman Khan, the terrorist who stabbed two people on London Bridge in 2019, and had wanted to die as a martyr, the court heard.
The jury was also informed that the defendant has a history of bipolar disorder but was on medication and was able to understand the consequences of his actions.
Hussain told the court that he had only meant to wound his victims despite previously telling police he had wanted to kill them and would have carried out more attacks had his knife not got stuck in the second victim’s handbag strap.
After verdicts were returned, Judge Nicholas Dean KC said: “An offence arising out of claims that Israel was causing atrocities against Muslims, and an attack of retribution for that, at face value, is precisely the definition of a terrorist offence.”
Judge Dean adjourned the sentencing until May, but attempted murder carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Munawar Hussain being arrested by police shortly after the attack (Credit: Facebook)
Security cameras captured Hussain entering the store and pursuing the store manager before being chased by the store detective, James Brayford, who detained him nearby and waited for the police.
Hussain said he carried out the attack with a kitchen knife that was “too weak” after the knife he had bought a few days earlier had been hidden by his wife.
Hussain’s second victim, Janet 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 her.
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 he was a shoplifter. Within seconds he 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 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 branch manager, Samantha Worthington, 41, 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.”
