Migrant with pants around ankles let go by police tried to kill female stranger

A migrant who was let go by cops after being found in public with his pants round his ankles went on to try and kill a female stranger enjoying a night out and only stopped when a group of Good Samaritans punched him unconscious. The woman was walking home from a meal when Ibrahim Albashir randomly launched a terrifying “frenzied” attack with a broken bottle, a court heard.

Albashir grabbed the woman and injured her head, neck and chest when a group of men responded to her “blood-curdling screams” and forced him to let go by punching him unconscious, Leeds Crown Court was told.

On Tuesday, Albashir, 34, who is originally from Sudan and has catatonic schizophrenia, was given a 25-year prison sentence along with an indefinite hospital order after admitting attempted murder at an earlier hearing.

Judge Robin Mairs explained how the defendant told doctors he was born and lived in Sudan until was 25 and then travelled via Libya and Italy to France, where he spent some time in a mental hospital and was eventually refused asylum.

The judge said Albashir told medical staff he arrived in the UK from Calais having “used the services of people smugglers” and lived in Luton, Coventry and Birmingham before ending up in a hostel in Barrow-in-Furness.

He ended up in Leeds when he was thrown off a Manchester to York train for having no ticket, the court heard.

Two days before the attack in Headingley, Albashir was stopped by police in the area after he was found with his trousers round his ankles and in a “trance-like state”, but he was released with no action taken.

Judge Mairs said Albashir he will be detained indefinitely in a secure mental hospital and, if he ever recovers, he will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

He said it was not a matter for him whether the defendant, who told doctors he was brought to the UK by people smugglers, is deported.

The court heard Albashir launched the brutal attack opposite the Original Oak pub, on Otley Road, in the popular nightlife area of Headingley in Leeds at about 9pm on March 17, 2024.

Judge Mairs described how Albashir grabbed the woman from behind in a stranglehold and stabbed her as many as 30 times with the glass in his other hand. One witness described the attack as “frenzied” and another “thought he was trying to kill her”.

The attack continued despite attempts by a group of men, including nearby doormen, to intervene and Albashir only released the woman when one of the men punched him so hard he was temporarily rendered unconscious.

The judge said “it is by good fortune alone that (the woman) escaped with relatively minor injuries”, but noted that the victim’s mental scars are “profound and lifelong”.

He added he was also worried about concerns raised about the defendant’s sexual conduct – including a sexual assault in a hotel where he was staying in Birmingham and another involving a member of staff while detained in hospital.

He also exposed himself to a doctor, Judge Mairs said.

The judge told the defendant: “It is of significance you chose to attack a lone female”, adding: “The common sense conclusion is that there was a sexual element to the attack.”

The woman listened from the public gallery as her victim personal statement was read to the court. In it, the woman described how Albashir grabbed her as she walked home from a meal out by herself in a nearby restaurant.

She said her physical injuries may have been relatively minor but “my mental injuries are scars that will stay with me forever and will always affect me”.

She said she has a scar on her chest which is a “constant reminder of what happened that night” and that when she is asked about it, “I have to relive the worst day of my life all over again”.

The woman said in the statement: “I still have no idea why he attacked me.”

“It’s not knowing why he did this to me that makes it difficult to process,” she said. She added that walking past the location of the attack “fills me with panic and dread”, and described how the attack has “completely changed the way I live my life”.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Lucy Bacon told the court that all doctors agree that Albashir has catatonic schizophrenia.

Katherine Robinson, defending, told the court the offence “would not have occurred had this defendant not been experiencing a psychotic episode”.

But Ms Robinson said it must have been a “completely horrific and terrifying event” for her client’s victim.

Albashir appeared on video link from hospital for the sentencing hearing.

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Inspector Richard James, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “Albashir has approached a lone woman and subjected her to a ferocious, sustained attack which has only stopped thanks to the intervention of these security staff.

“Thankfully they heard the victim’s screams and rushed to her aid, potentially putting themselves in harm’s way to protect her. They have not only detained Albashir but also treated the victim’s injuries until the attendance of paramedics.

“Without their actions, this could very easily have been a murder investigation.”