Neighbours tell of ‘decent family’
BY PAUL BYRNE walk from their home. One neighbour said he saw police in a churchyard behind the house as he walked his dog at 10am yesterday. He said: “They just told me to go inside. They did not even give me a chance to ask what it was, they just said ‘get in’.”
Another neighbour said: “They are a decent family. I can not believe they will be involved in something like this. It is a bit of a shock.”
Police said the attack victims, a couple in their 50s, received serious but not life-threatening injuries.
The man suffered multiple knife wounds to his body and his partner was stabbed in the forehead. Both are expected to stay in hospital for a number of days and are being supported by specially trained officers.
A British Transport Police officer in his 30s who was stabbed in the shoulder as he tried to tackle the knifeman was also treated in hospital before being allowed home.
The attacker was eventually pinned to the floor by other officers after being Tasered and pepper-sprayed.
PM Theresa May yesterday praised the British Transport Police team for containing the incident. Assistant Chief Constable Sean O’Callaghan said: “I am incredibly proud of the four officers. They were fearless, running towards danger and preventing further harm coming to passengers.”
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said yesterday: “The events of last night will have affected many and caused concern. That the incident happened so close to the scene of the terrorist attack on May 22, 2017, makes it even more dreadful.”
It was reported yesterday that Isis had used encrypted apps to urge extremists to carry out a knife attack in the UK during the festive season.
A document posted on the internet is said to have encouraged a knife attack on a “drunken kafir [non-believer]” or someone “in an alley close a night club or another place of debauchery”.