Munawar Hussain will be detained at a hospital in Merseyside
A knifeman who launched an horrific attack on two women after walking into a Marks and Spencer store has been handed a hospital order. Munawar Hussain asked to speak to the manager at the M&S in Burnley town centre in December 2020, then stabbed her in the neck before chasing her through the store.
The 60-year-old, who believed the retailer funded Israel in its “persecution” of Palestine, then turned his attention onto a customer stabbing her to the arm. He tried to stab her in the back as she lay on the floor but the blade of the kitchen knife snapped after becoming stuck in her handbag strap.
Hussain fled the store, but was quickly caught by a brave security guard and members of the public before police arrived at the scene. After his arrest he was found to be carrying a note, written in Urdu, which read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks and Spencer helping you financially.”
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Following a trial, Hussain was found guilty of attempted murder and wounding. He later pleaded guilty to a further offence of attempted murder after attacking a male nurse in the secure unit he was detained in, reports the Manchester Evening News.
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Yesterday, Monday September 2, he was handed an indefinite hospital order under the Mental Health Act, and will be detained at a hospital in Merseyside. The order means he can only be discharged by the Secretary of State for Justice or the Mental Health Tribunal.
Prosecutor Alex Leach KC said Hussain left his house on Murray Street in Burnley on the morning of December 2 2020, and went directly to Marks and Spencer. He entered the store at 9.15am and spoke to a staff member. She was unable to tell what he was saying but heard the word ‘manager’ and so took him to store manager, Samantha Worthington.
Mr Leach KC said: “Ms Worthington asked the defendant if he was alright and he said something, which she struggled to make out, and the next thing she knew she had been stabbed. She felt like the defendant had punched her. She put her hand to her neck and realised she had been stabbed and ran from the shop floor away from the defendant. A number of people in the shop saw the defendant chasing her.”
Hussain then turned his attention to Janet Dell, who was shopping in the store. He went on to stab her to the arm. She was trying to get away but ‘slipped on her own blood’. During the ensuing struggle, he attempted to stab her a second time but the blade became stuck in her handbag and snapped off.
The prosecutor continued: “He fled the scene and was chased by James Brayford, who caught up with Mr Hussain and could see something in his hand. He stayed at arms length and shouted at others to call the police. Together with members of the public he [apprehended] the defendant.”
Both women were taken to hospital, where Ms Worthington was treated for a serious stab wound to her neck, a collapsed lung and was placed into intensive care for recovery. Mrs Dell sustained two stab wounds to her arm, one which cut the bone, and was left with weakness in her thumb.
Under interview Hussain told police he ‘deliberately targeted Marks and Spencer’ because they ‘funded Israel’ and he ‘intended to kill’ his victims. He also said he thought police would ‘kill him’ because he intended to be a ‘martyr’.
Ms Worthington appeared in court to read her victim personal statement. She broke down as she detailed the devastating impact the attack had upon her. She said: “It changed everything about my life. I always feel like something bad is going to happen and I’m panicking that somebody is going to come into my house. I live on a main road and every time I hear an emergency vehicle go past, I am reminded of the day I was attacked.”
She said she has flashbacks and nightmares and was unable to work or drive for a number of months. She said that while she has returned to work, she can ‘never be able to live a carefree life’. She said: “This was something I took for granted.”
Mrs Dell also gave a statement. She detailed the extensive treatment she had received, and said she has been left struggling to do simple things like washing her hair without help.
She said: “I don’t think I will ever forget the terror from that moment. I cannot go into Burnley town centre without my husband and I have not returned to Marks and Spencer. The attack on me is something I will remember for a long time and will have a profound impact on me and my whole family.”
Hussain was initially detained within a secure unit at Guild Lodge, in Preston, during which he struck up a friendship with a male nurse who spoke Hindi. They discussed the nurse’s religious background, during which Hussain urged him to read the Quran.
On June 26 last year Hussain asked to use a knife from the kitchen, but when the nurse went to retrieve the knife from him, Hussain said ‘you f***ing dirty pig’ before attempting to stab him, the court heard.
Hussain later told the police he believed the nurse had converted from Islam to Christianity and ‘thought it was wrong’. The nurse said in a statement that he had suffered with nightmares which had caused sleep deprivation following the attack. He added that he struggled being on his own as he would think back to what happened.
The court heard that in a number of reports from psychiatrists they concluded Hussain had been suffering from a schizoaffective disorder and psychosis for a number of years and there was evidence of ‘paranoid delusional belief around religion’.
Mitigating, Peter Wright KC said: “Nothing I say is intended to minimise the terrible actions committed by this defendant or the profound and lasting effect on the victims. As to the risk he poses and the management of containing that risk, we would say it can only be met by a hospital order.
‘You harmed people who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing and had no connection with whatever you thought Marks and Spencer’s political views or affiliations might be’
Sentencing Hussain to a section 37 hospital order with section 41 restrictions under the Mental Health Act, Judge Nicholas Dean KC said: “The fact is you attacked not Marks and Spencer, but two individuals. What you did, did not harm Marks and Spencer in any meaningful way.”
The judge added that his ‘religious preoccupation’ became ‘intense’ over the years and his mental disorder was the cause of his criminal behaviour. He also awarded Mr Brayford £2,000 compensation under section 28 of the Criminal Law Act 1826, in recognition of his bravery.
Chief Superintendent Sarah Kenwright of CTPNW said: “These incidents are deeply disturbing and traumatising for all the victims. We have supported them and they have been at the forefront of our minds throughout the investigation and the subsequent trial.”
“No one should go to their place of work or out shopping and fear for their lives, sadly this has been a reality for three people, who have undoubtedly had their lives changed, both physically and mentally, by Hussain’s actions.”
“Our subsequent investigation, and ultimately today’s sentencing, means that Hussain will remain in a safe place for him to get the treatment he needs, and that the public are safe from the threat that he clearly posed that day.”
