The terror suspect accused of stabbing two Jewish men in London has been identified as a Somali-born thug who previously served time for knifing a police officer and his dog, and was wanted over another suspected attack hours earlier.
Essa Suleiman, 45, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over Wednesday’s attacks in the heavily Jewish north London neighborhood of Golders Green.
Born in Somalia, Suleiman came to the UK legally as a child in the 1990s and is now a British citizen, the Telegraph reported.
He has a lengthy rap sheet and was previously locked up for stabbing Police Constable Neil Sampson in January 2008, the outlet reported.
Sampson had been responding to reports of a knife incident at a property in Swindon, 70 miles southwest of London, when a then-27-year-old Suleiman attacked him.
He stabbed the officer repeatedly with a bread knife in the head, face, and leg, according to reports.
Sampson’s dog, Anya, was slashed in the chest by Suleiman during the frenzied attack.
The officer required five months off work, but miraculously, both he and Anya survived.
Sampson said Suleiman “should not be in a position again to hurt a member of the public or another police officer,” during his attacker’s sentencing hearing.
The judge at the time ruled Suleiman should serve a minimum of four and a half years for grievous bodily harm and only be considered for release when he was no longer a public risk.
It isn’t clear when he was released from prison.
In 2020, Suleiman was referred to the British government’s counter-terrorism “Prevent” program, but his case was closed later the same year.
An Iranian-backed terror group, Ashab al-Yamin, took credit for Wednesday’s attack.
Police were already hunting for Suleiman on Wednesday over a separate suspected knife attack earlier the same day.
Officers were called to an address in Southwark, southeast London, at around 9 a.m. local time over reports of a suspect armed with a knife during an argument.
One of the occupants suffered minor injuries.
By the time police arrived, the suspect—allegedly Suleiman—had already fled.
Three hours later, he is accused of stabbing a man in his 30s and a man in his 70s in an attack close to a synagogue in Golders Green, some eight miles away.
Both victims survived, and their conditions were described as stable.
Dramatic footage showed Suleiman being kicked in the head as heroic cops fought to disarm him after using a taser to bring him to the ground.