LONDON (AFP) – A 24-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder over the stabbing of a British soldier earlier this week, United Kingdom (UK) police said yesterday.
Anthony Esan is due to appear in court later in the day following the attack on Tuesday evening near an army barracks in Kent, southeast England.
The victim, a man in his forties, is in hospital and his condition “is currently described as serious but stable”, Kent Police said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the incident, which occurred in the town of Gillingham, about 64 kilometres southeast of London.Kent Police are yet to indicate any motive in the latest attack but they are not thought to be treating it as terror related.
The force had said it was “exploring the possibility that it may be mental health related”.
Officers arrested Esan in nearby Rochester within half an hour of being called to the scene of the attack, near the British Army’s Brompton Barracks.
The suspect was reported to have left the scene on a motorcycle, and “a number of knives” have been seized, the force said in an earlier statement.
