A man who stabbed an innocent dog walker to death during a random knife rampage in west London has been ordered to remain in a secure psychiatric hospital indefinitely.
asserted
who → stab → hospital
Safi, who was suffering from psychotic depression and paranoid delusions, also wounded his landlord Shahzad Farrukh and stabbed a 14-year-old boy during the attack.
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who → suffer → attack
At Southwark Crown Court on Monday, Mrs Justice Cutts imposed a hospital order with restrictions, meaning Safi can only be released if mental health specialists and the Ministry of Justice consider it to be safe.
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it → impose → Justice
The judge said Mr Broadhurst, who was walking his dog when he encountered Safi in the street, had the “terrible misfortune” to cross paths with his attacker.
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he → say → attacker
CCTV footage published by the Met Police shows the harrowing events of October 27, as Safi wields a knife while he attempts to slash residents in a street in Uxbridge.
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he → publish → Uxbridge
One woman, holding what appears to be a bat, hits Safi in an attempt to drive him away from her front door as other residents come out into the street.
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residents → hold → street
In another clip, a man wearing a white T-shirt and grey cardigan walks down the street towards Safi as a voice in the background shouts: “Stay back.
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voice → wear → background
The man runs away as Safi follows him, but escapes by entering a property.
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Safi → run → property
Police are then seen arriving in the street and using a Taser on Safi, causing him to fall to the ground before he is arrested.
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he → see → ground
Safi, who also stabbed a 14-year-old boy during the rampage, was described as looking “possessed” as the incident unfolded.
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incident → stab → rampage
Southwark Crown Court heard Safi, who was smuggled into the UK on the back of a lorry in 2020, had suffered a “collapse” in his mental health in the days before the stabbings and was suffering delusions that his family was conspiring against him.
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family → hear → him
Mr Broadhurst, a street cleaner for Ealing Council, had the “terrible misfortune” to walk with his dog Harry past the house in Midhurst Gardens and was stabbed 14 times by Safi, said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw KC.
Safi, who was born in the Kapisa province of northern Afghanistan, was smuggled in to the UK on the back of a lorry in November 2020 and lied about his age – saying he was 17 instead of 22 – to stand a better chance of asylum.
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he → have → asylum
Mr Laidlaw said Safi travelled through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Belgium and the Netherlands to get to the UK, and was coached by his cousin to lie to the police and immigration authorities “to maximise his chances of gaining leave to remain”.
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Safi → say → leave
He pretended that his father, a fruit farmer, had been murdered by the Taliban, instead of the truth that he was killed when a land dispute turned violent, and he was granted leave to remain in the UK until 2027.
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he → pretend → 2027
Safi worked as an Uber driver, studied for a mechanics qualification at Uxbridge College, and also worked jobs as a delivery driver and in a restaurant, and had no convictions since entering the country.
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Safi → work → country
He had sought help from doctors for his deteriorating mental health before the rampage on October 27 last year, which began as he targeted his landlord Shahzad Farrukh at their address in Midhurst Gardens in the afternoon.
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he → seek → afternoon
“Mr Farrukh went into the kitchen and saw the defendant’s silhouette on the other side of the blurred-glass door that provides access to the annex from the house,” said Mr Laidlaw.
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Laidlaw → go → house
“Mr Farrukh opened the door to find the defendant holding a large kitchen knife in his right hand.”
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defendant → open → hand
The court heard Safi “lunged” at his landlord and stabbed him, sparking a prolonged struggle as Mr Farrukh desperately tried to fend him off.
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Farrukh → hear → him
Safi was heard to shout, “you’ve ruined my life” and accused his landlord of not helping him with a complaint to police.
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you → hear → police
Safi was disarmed thanks to the efforts of the teenage boy, who was himself stabbed after he intervened in the struggle.
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he → disarm → struggle
Mr Farrukh and the boy managed to seek refuge with neighbours.
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Farrukh → manage → neighbours
The landlord had been stabbed on both sides of his neck and his chest and suffered a punctured lung, but survived the prolonged attack.
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landlord → stab → attack
Safi armed himself again with the knife and came after Mr Farrukh, but was heroically repelled in the street by neighbours, who described him as looking “possessed” and “dead between the eyes”.
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who → arm → eyes
The victim came walking around the corner with his dog just as Safi was in the street with the knife.
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Safi → walk → knife
Mr Laidlaw said Safi launched a “sustained, ferocious and unsurvivable knife attack for no apparent reason, rational or otherwise”.
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Safi → say → reason
Mr Broadhurst “was stabbed to death by this defendant in a frenzied, random and an entirely unprovoked assault”, he told the court.
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he → stab → court
“He died almost instantly in the street, with the dog by his side.”
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He → die → side
The prosecutor told the judge of Safi: “There is no dispute that he suffered a collapse in his mental health in the time leading up to the terrible events of the morning of October 27 when he stabbed to death Wayne Broadhurst, who was doing no more than walking his dog on the streets of Hillingdon.
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who → tell → Hillingdon
“The defendant was hearing voices and had been consumed by paranoid delusional beliefs, that people were talking about him and members of his family were controlling him and plotting against him.”
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members → hear → him
In her sentencing remarks, the judge acknowledged the “devastating” impact of the crime on Mr Broadhurst’s family, and added that he was “a hard-working and decent man who was deeply loved”.
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who → acknowledge → family
“Wayne Broadhurst, a gentle and quiet man, had the misfortune to be walking his dog at the time,” said Mrs Justice Cutts.
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Cutts → have → time
“As he emerged from the alleyway on to the street, you set upon and killed him in a frenzied, random, and completely unprovoked assault involving stabbing him at least 14 times.”
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you → emerge → him
The judge also recommended that Safi is deported, saying his “continued presence in the UK is to its detriment”, but added that the final decision lays with the Home Secretary.
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decision → recommend → Secretary
Mr Broadhurst’s partner, Ann Newman, told the court her “future was stolen from me” and described facing up to a daily battle with grief and loss.
Her sister, Laura Ireland-Cochrane, said the family has struggled to come to terms with Safi being convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
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Safi → tell → manslaughter
“We understand the court has to consider the evidence and reach its legal decisions, but as a family it has been extremely difficult to accept,” she said.
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she → understand → family
“We are left having to live with the consequences of that decision.”
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We → leave → decision
She added that they also now have the worry that Safi could one day be set free again if his mental health improves.
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health → add → worry
Safi appeared for his sentencing hearing on a video link from the high-security Broadmoor hospital.
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Safi → appear → hospital
The court was told Safi moved into Mr Farrukh’s annex flat in Midhurst Gardens at the start of August 2025.
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Safi → tell → August
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
