Man says he tried to intervene and get the knife during Golders Green attack

A man who intervened to help a Jewish man during a knife attack in Golders Green has said he tried to barricade the attacker in a shop.

Ashkan Asadian said he saw 76-year-old Norman Shine being attacked by a knifeman at a bus stop on Wednesday morning.

He told the BBC: “I saw him stabbing the old man in the neck.”

Mr Asadian, 61, said he had “to do something” when he saw the attacker was going to follow Mr Shine.

“I try to maybe [see if] I can save someone’s life.”

Mr Asadian said: “I just tried to keep him busy, get the knife,” adding that he “tried a few times to catch the knife”.

“I try to kick his arm, maybe he [will] drop the knife, but I find out [it] is quite dangerous.”

The attacker then walked into a nearby greengrocer’s, and Mr Asadian shouted a warning to a woman inside that the man had a knife, before barricading him in with a shopping trolley.

He said he then decided it was too dangerous to leave the man in the shop in case he attacked the staff, so he moved aside and the man walked down the road, the BBC reported.

Mr Shine and Shloime Rand, 34, were stabbed during the incident in the north London suburb.

Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was remanded in custody.