Hammer attack pair fight for life
POLICE have arrested the main suspect in an unprovoked hammer attack that left a mother and daughter fighting for their lives last night.
Detectives had been hunting Joe Xuereb, 27, from Greenwich, after a man allegedly targeted the women at random in a residential street in Eltham, south-east London.
Officers were called at 12.10pm yesterday to find the women, aged 64 and 30, suffering devastating injuries “consistent with a violent assault”, Scotland Yard said.
They were taken to south London hospitals where they are in a critical condition.
A hammer was found at the scene which was “believed to have been used in the assault”, a police spokesman said.
Scotland Yard confirmed they arrested Xuereb on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder at 7.35pm. A man had been spotted by a woman who then followed him in her car, until the force were able to detain him in nearby Sidcup.
A neighbour, who went to the victims’ aid, said: “It was horrific. They were life-changing injuries.” Another witness said: “I heard screams and looked out of the window and saw them covered in blood.” The attack is part of a violent crimewave currently hitting Britain.
In London last week there were four knife murders in as many days. On Saturday a man in his fifties died of stab wounds in Catford, south-east London. On Friday both Joseph Cullimore, 42, in Chingford, east London, and Gary Amer, 63, in Camberwell, south London, were stabbed to death.
Simonne Kerr, 31, whose choir reached the final of Britain’s Got Talent, was fatally stabbed in Battersea last week.
Police also confirmed two women in their 90s were beaten in separate attacks in Manchester last Thursday.
A 93-year-old woman was attacked for her bag as she sat at a bus stop in Oldham, while a gang of youths beat a woman, 95, in her home in Northenden.
Tory MP and ex-special constable David Davies, said: “The police should have stronger stop and search powers and be encouraged to use them.”
Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick said in May police cuts had contributed to rising levels of knife and gun crime and murder as the number of officers fell below 30,000 – its lowest for 15 years.