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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ryan Merrifield & Laura Sharman & Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Bishopsgate attack: Horror moment three people stabbed as thief 'tries to steal phones'

This is the shocking moment three people were knifed on a busy street during the morning commute as thieves tried to steal mobile phones and they rushed to help.

A builder, who witnessed this morning's attack, told The Mirror of his horror as he watched the rampage in London unfold.

The attack happened after thieves were challenged by passers-by around 200m from a City of London Police station.

Harrowing footage appears to show a man, wearing red, stabbed on the street just before 10am this morning. It sparked a huge altercation as onlookers were left petrified by the shocking scene.

Police probing the stabbing near Liverpool Street Station say they are hunting two mobile phone muggers.

The victims were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated while a fourth person was helped at the scene after being shoved to the floor.

Chief Supt Steve Heatley, of City of London Police, said: "Three victims were taken by London Ambulance Service to a nearby hospital to be treated. They do not have life-threatening injuries.

"Two suspects are being sought as part of the ongoing investigation related to an attempted phone theft and the incident is not being treated as terror-related."

It is claimed the incident - which lasted two minutes - began when bystanders stepped in to stop thieves.

The builder, named D Michael, told the Mirror: “I saw reports saying three people got stabbed. It was just two people and one other got a head injury - he was trying to help.

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"It all kicked off a few yards away and I saw a middle aged man, 40 to 50, white male, was fighting this teenager. To me it looked like a robbery.

"Then a guy on the white moped there pulled up and got involved to help out and he ended up getting stabbed as well. Then a third guy got injured in the head.

"He was the one that was bleeding the most. A lot of people got involved. But I only saw three people get hurt.

"The teenager tried to rob him (the first victim). He looked like he works in an office or something. I suddenly saw a knife.

"The guy on the moped tries to get involved, and got stabbed. Lots of people got involved, about five kids and pedestrians, some were just watching. Some were trying to split up the fight.

The attack is being treated as a 'suspected robbery' (PA)

"A man ran into this building (22 Bishopsgate), I guess to get away from the fighting. Next minute, the teenager, all in black, took off running.

"By this point you couldn’t really tell who was fighting who. The whole thing last two minutes.”

Toby Hamand kicked the bicycle wheel of one of the assailants, and - according to The Telegraph - his actions led the attacker to fall, and the accomplice to brandish a knife.

He told the publication: "There was someone else who was trying to break up the fight and I said: 'These guys are trying to rob someone.'

"And then the other guy who was also with a bike, he brandished his knife at me.

"He held it in his fist and sort of raised his hand up to sort of show me and I immediately was like 'okay, not going anywhere near this.' And then they just went off on the bike on their bikes.

Police rushed to the scene after reports of multiple stabbings (George Cracknell Wright/LNP)

"I pretty quickly realised that there were there were two guys who were wearing like bandanas - they were covering their faces."

He added in the initial altercation pedestrians seemed to be trying to grab the teenager while another teenager hit a pedestrian.

D Michael said he could not see the older man when he was stabbed, as a lot of people had gathered around at that time.

He added that he saw him bleeding, adding another person was stabbed at least twice, once in right side of chest and once in the left side of his back.

D Michael said: "He dropped to his knees, then I couldn’t see properly because there were so many people. He was laid on the floor bleeding.”

The witness added one pedestrian who was hit in the head was left bleeding and staggering around.

Other people claim a teenager stole a man's phone on the crossing, prompting him to chase the teen down - with this incident causing the initial fight according to D Michael.

Others at the scene told The Mirror they thought a Deliveroo driver was involved and that he had a knife.

A huge part of Bishopsgate has been cordoned off by police as officers put the area into lockdown.

"We received reports of three stabbings and a person pushed to the floor on Bishopsgate at 9.46am and officers arrived at the scene at 9.51am," a tweet from the City of London Police read.

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