Jewish businessman stabbed during attempted car-jacking in Kew Gardens

Eric Salama, 57, was attacked while returning to his car and realising there was a man in his front seat

A Jewish businessman and philanthropist is recovering in hospital after being stabbed near the heart during an attempted car-jacking in Kew Gardens on Sunday morning.

Eric Salama, 57, who manages an international marketing company, was returning to his Ford Focus RS after getting coffee at a local café when he realised there was a man in his front seat of his car.

In the ensuing confrontation Salama was stabbed, but stumbled back into the café, where staff stemmed the bleeding before paramedics arrived. His son later confirmed that Salama had suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Salama, who worked as a Labour Party speechwriter in the 1980s, made a large donation to Poland’s new Jewish museum in 2017, and co-sponsors a post-graduate degree at the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck University.