Stabbed Ealing businessman saved from knife

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A businessman stabbed by a former employee today hailed as heroes two colleagues who saved his life by wrestling the attacker to the ground. 

Lee Stalham, 38, was at his desk preparing for a meeting when Mohammed Himedan walked into his office brandishing a kitchen knife and stabbed him repeatedly.

Mr Stalham, the owner of Ealing-based corporate telecoms firm Your Company Mobiles, was knifed three times in the right arm before he fled towards the stairs. Dutch-born Himedan, 25, gave chase and continued the attack, stabbing him in the kidney. 

Account manager Kevin Ofosu-Amaah, 20, tackled Himedan to the ground and customer service manager Albinia Nicholas, 29, pulled Mr Stalham to safety. Mr Stalham said: “I should be dead. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.”

Mr Stalham said Himedan walked into his second-floor office, shouted, “F*** you” and began to stab him.

He said Himedan had worked for him for 15 months before he “stopped turning up” in mid-December last year. “He went Awol. It was very mysterious. Then at 9.30am on February 10 he just walked in,” he said.

“He came up to a bank of desks, looked at me and said something like, ‘F*** you’ and plunged the knife into me.  It was a deliberate, sustained attack. He was intent on chasing me down the stairs to finish me off. Albinia and Kevin were heroes that day, we will be friends for life.”

Mr Ofosu-Amaah received a deep cut to his hand after trying to wrestle the knife away and was stabbed in the foot as he pinned Himedan to the floor.

£47m route 'should be completed next year'

Pic:Buckingham Palace
Royal  correspondent(wp):

The £47 million cycle superhighway that will pass Buckingham Palace should finally be completed next year, cycling campaigner Chris Boardman believes.

There were concerns Transport for London would leave a “half-mile gap” in the largely segregated Tower Hill to Hyde Park route due to cuts and logistical headaches. It was due for completion in May but TfL only started work on Constitution Hill last month and  has been unable to set a date for the  Spur Road and Birdcage Walk sections. 

Boardman, the ex-Olympic champion and policy adviser to British Cycling, said Val Shawcross, the deputy mayor for cycling, told him the route “is going ahead as planned”.

Green assembly member Caroline Russell, who will question Sadiq Khan on the delay and his discussions with Royal Parks next week, said Ms Shawcross told her construction on the Birdcage Walk section was possibly due to start next month.

TfL this week revealed an £11 million “slippage” in the amount it had been due to spend on cycling this financial year.

New TfL budgets will be set by the Mayor, who pledged to make London “a byword for cycling”, this month. TfL said it was working hard and that construction will extend into the new year.

Woman suffers horrific head injuries in brutal street robbery

Pic:Philippa May, 43, suffered severe facial cuts and bruising after she was pushed to the floor
Crime reporter(wp/es):

These are the shocking injuries inflicted on a woman by a hooded robber who shoved her to the ground before viciously attacking her in an alleyway. 

Philippa May, 43, suffered severe facial cuts and bruising after she was pushed to the floor as she walked through Uxbridge town centre. 

The man, who was wearing a hooded top and gloves, attacked Ms May and stole her rucksack and two mobile phones. 

Ms May was walking down St John’s Road in Uxbridge town centre at around 07.30pm on Halloween when she turned into an alley which leads to Culvery Lane. 

After the attack she managed to make her way to her partner's house where she phoned the police. 

The suspect ran back down the main road past the General Elliott pub. 

Some of her belongings were later recovered in nearby Rockingham Park but the rucksack and phones remain missing.

Investigating Officer Detective Constable Reda Imane said: "Philippa has taken the brave step of releasing an image which shows the extent of her injuries and highlight the excessive violence used by her attacker.

"Philippa was lucky she did not suffer more serious injuries but it goes without saying that her ordeal was extremely traumatic and she has yet to return to work.