HE’LL BE detained for a decade, after Snaresbrook Crown Court sentenced him to seven years in prison and three further years on licence thereafter – for a series of stabbings carried out at random in Hackney.

The jailed man is Kristian Holme-Slater, 25, of Hastings. What made him come to Hackney last August is not known, but in the last minutes of 27th August 2021 he went up to a man and a woman walking along Goldsmiths Row, E2, and slashed at them both with a knife. Fortunately, both of them leapt out of the way and managed to escape without injury.

Later that night, the brother of the woman who had been slashed at came up to the area. He saw Holme-Slater on a bicycle, and he asked him why he had tried to attack his sister. Holme-Slater got off his bicycle and stabbed the brother in the heart.

The brother managed to get to where his sister was, and then he collapsed. An ambulance was called and took the injured man to hospital. He was in a critical condition when he arrived, but after five days of treatment, including in the Intensive Care Unit, he was able to be discharged.

Detective Constable Jamiesha Majevadia, from the local policing team in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said, “This could very easily have been a murder investigation. The victim’s condition was critical, and he required open heart surgery to save his life. Holme-Slater was arrested on 17 September after our investigation which identified the suspect within hours of committing the offence as he was known in the local community. The Met has long prioritised our response to knife crime, and this case is another example of our determination to bring to justice those responsible for such violent acts.”

●Anyone who has any information about knife crime or possession of a knife is asked to contact police on 101. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111 and give information anonymously. Your action could save a life.

●To catch up with the news in East London, go to:
East London News

●Watch East London’s weekly news magazine programme,
live at 10pm every Tuesday and on demand all week:
The Tuesday Show