Golders Green stabbing suspect named as Essa Suleiman

This is the first picture of the suspected Golders Green knifeman named as Somali-born former school security guard Essa Suleiman.

The 45-year-old British national was arrested after Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, were attacked in north London.

He was born in Somalia, but arrived in the UK as a child in the early 1990s.

He arrived legally before becoming an official British citizen.

Police have confirmed the suspect pinned to the floor by two officers had a history of ‘serious violence and mental health issues’, and was previously referred to Prevent.

He was referred to the government’s anti-extremism programme in 2020, but the case was closed.

It is understood Suleiman once worked as a school security guard and a Somali interpreter.

It came after mother of victim Shloime Rand today described how the ‘gentle soul’ was still in hospital recovering from a wound to the chest.

He described how Jewish friends had alerted her with a phone call ‘no parent ever wants to receive’.

She told Metro she had been at her son’s bedside and that he had been attacked while in Golders Green to attend a religious studies class.

She said: ‘Some Jewish friends rang me, not the police.

‘My son was in the area for religious studies. He was attacked for no reason. He was stabbed in the chest and is still in hospital.’

She added: ‘The Jewish community needs more protection for the danger we face.’

In London, counter-terrorism officers investigating the attack said they were also searching an address in the south east of the city after it was reported the suspect had been involved in a prior ‘altercation’ with another person.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, after being heckled when he visited the scene, told a press conference those attending pro-Palestine marches standing ‘alongside people who say “globalise the intifada”, you are calling for terrorism against Jews’.

He said: ‘Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country, but 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.

‘So I say again, 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.’