Man who stabbed girl in London’s Leicester Square detained

A man who stabbed an 11-year-old girl in a random knife attack in the West End has been sentenced to indefinite detention in a high security mental hospital by a judge at the Old Bailey.

Ioan Pintaru, 33, attacked the Australian tourist, who is now 13, as she visited Leicester Square with her mother on 12 August 2024.

The Romanian national pleaded guilty in October to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possession of a knife.

He previously denied a charge of attempted murder but prosecutors decided not to pursue a trial as his psychosis at the time of the attack meant it could not be proven that he had an intent to kill.

At the sentencing hearing, the court heard that the victim, who was on holiday with her mother, thought she was going to die.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was put in a headlock by Pintaru and stabbed “furiously and repeatedly” as she left the Lego shop, where she had been buying gifts for her family.

Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC said the victim described in an interview with police how she felt something crash into her from behind and hit her on the head.

“She felt the defendant’s arm wrap itself around her,” Ms Stonecliffe said.

“His weight was on her. She said in the interview that at that moment she thought she was going to die.

“She felt the defendant stab her in the face and felt the blood from the wound running down her face.

“She was understandably terrified.”

A security guard at a nearby shop intervened to tackle the weapon from Pintaru and the girl was taken to hospital for treatment for injuries to her face, shoulder, wrist and neck. She was discharged the following day.

Recalling the incident, the girl’s mother described in evidence that Pintaru was “repeatedly laying into her daughter, stabbing her aggressively” and described his arm moving “like a jackhammer, repeatedly stabbing”.

Ms Stonecliffe KC told Judge Richard Marks KC that “mercifully” the girl had recovered from her wounds, but the girl is “deeply conscious of her physical scars”.

“She will constantly be reminded of that moment,” the court was told.

“The psychological effect of this incident will remain with her for the rest of her life.

In a victim impact statement, read to the court by Judge Marks, the girl’s mother told of a “profound” emotional and psychological harm which had resulted in her “constantly scanning for danger”.

“She feels… a deep sense of guilt for not having been able to protect her daughter and she finds it extremely difficult to allow her independence.

“There is a shadow over them that was not there before.”

It was revealed in court that Pintaru had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Romania on three occasions between May 2022 and February 2023. He had stopped taking his medication at the time of the attack.

Questioned after the stabbing he mainly offered no comment, but he became tearful and refused to watch the CCTV footage of the incident, the Old Bailey was told.

Det Con Laura Nicoll, from the Met, said: “The girl was leaving the Lego Store in Leicester Square with her mum after buying presents for her family, while visiting the city on holiday.

“This innocent scene was shattered when Ioan-Alexandru Pintaru violently stabbed her with a knife. It was a savage and brutal attack that left the city in shock.

“But following the most appalling scene, we also saw the best of London – a security guard who raced from his post without a thought of his own safety, the off-duty nurse who tended to the little girl’s wounds.

“Without them, she might not be alive today. The guard was commended by the court, and we would like to add to that our sincere admiration for his selfless act.”