11th May, 2024
Deadly London man, Itesh Ira, 35 of Belmont Avenue, Wembley, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for horrendous knife attack on a woman, leaving her almost dead.
Ira was jailed after detectives complied overwhelming evidence against him for being a dangerous domestic abuser.
Ira appeared at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 2 May where he was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum term of 16 years and 9 months [less time served] for trying to kill a woman who he repeatedly stabbed and left for dead during a horrific attack in Wembley on 30 September 2022.
The police said Ira was left with no choice but to plead guilty to his awful crimes, given the overwhelming weight of evidence investigating officers had worked tirelessly to gather against him.
On Friday, 28 October 2022 he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and possession of a pointed/bladed article however later made unsuccessful attempts to vacate his pleas.
Detective Sergeant Mitesh Mulji, from North West Command’s Public Protection Unit, said Ira armed himself with a knife and lay in wait for the victim to finish work late at night before launching a senseless and horrendous act of violence in the middle of the street.
Mulji said it was clear from the sheer brutal and sustained force he used that his intention was to kill the victim.
Mulji said it was because of horrific incidents such as these that violence against women and girls remained a key priority for the Met Police, saying the police’s efforts to bring violent and dangerous perpetrators of domestic abuse to justice would not waiver as they continued to work closely alongside their partners.
“The strength and bravery of the victim in supporting this prosecution has been extraordinary. Unsurprisingly she remains seriously physically and psychologically scarred as a result of the incident, but I hope she is able to gain some sense of closure following this outcome, and knows that thanks to her courage Ira will be unable to harm any further women.
“I must also commend the actions of the courageous member of public who has deservedly been awarded with a Judge’s Commendation for his bravery in challenging Ira during the incident to stop an ongoing serious violent attack and saving the victim’s life,” Mulji said.
According to the police, during the early hours of Friday, 30 September 2022, they were called by several members of the public to Mount Pleasant, Wembley to reports that a woman had been repeatedly stabbed in the street.
Police and colleagues from the London Ambulance Service attended and found the victim lying on the pavement barely conscious with multiple stab wounds to her face, neck and body.
Officers also located a bloodstained knife nearby which had been snapped in half due to the excessive force used during the attack.
The Met Police said officers conducted fast-time enquiries which led them to identify Ira as the suspect, saying that the brutal attack had been captured on CCTV, which showed that following the frenzied stabbing, Ira repeatedly stamped on the victim’s head whilst she lay motionless on the floor and that he only stopped when a brave witness who had heard the victim’s screams came out of his home address and challenged him – and he immediately fled the scene.
The police said an immediate manhunt was launched which resulted in handing himself in at Wembley Police Station, adding that officers noted he had a fresh wound to his hand as well as traces of blood on his clothing.
The police added that the victim, who was known to Ira, was rushed to hospital where she remained for several weeks to receive treatment for her injuries and that the medical report indicated that she had received eight lacerations which included facial, neck and body injuries, significant wounding to her head, as well as fractures to her right hand.