‘This f***er’s not having me’: M&S manager describes escape from knife attacker who believed department store ‘funded Israel’

Munawar Hussain stabbed manager and customer before knife was broken by victim’s handbag, court hears

The incident happened at Marks and Spencer in Burnley (Google Streetview)

A Marks and Spencer manager has described the moment she was stabbed by a man who believed the department store “funded Israel”.

Samantha Worthington survived being stabbed in the neck by Munawar Hussain on 2 December 2020 - the first day non-essential shops could open their doors after a Covid lockdown.

The mother-of-three recalled thinking “this f***er’s not having me” as she fled, bleeding, through the clothes section of the shop.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Mr Hussain started chasing her, and then stabbed a female customer.

Prosecutor Alex Leach QC said that by an “incredible stroke of luck”, his knife was broken after getting caught in Janet Dell’s handbag, and he was caught after trying to flee.

Mr Hussain is accused of attempting to murder Ms Worthington and Ms Dell at the Burnley branch of Marks and Spencer, but denies the charges.

Mr Hussain carried out the knife attack while carrying a note in his pocket, which read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks Spencer helping you financially [sic].”

The jury was told that at around 9.15am on the day of the attack, Mr Hussain entered the shop, sanitised his hands and asked to speak to a manager.

In an interview played to the court, she said Mr Hussain “looked like a normal customer” when she was called over to see him by a colleague.

“He was stood by the scarves - I went ‘alright?’ he said ‘alright’,” Ms Worthington said. “He mumbled something about a jacket … the next thing I knew he stabbed me.”

The manager said she instinctively clutched her neck after what “felt like a punch”, as a woman started screaming.

“I needed to get away,” she added. “I just thought ‘this f***er’s not having me, I’ve got three kids and he’s not getting me, he’s not taking me away from them.”

Ms Worthington said that the attacker was wearing a face mask but his “eyes just looked pure evil”.

“The intent were there, you could tell he wanted to kill me,” she added. “He was coming towards me again.”

The court heard that Ms Worthington fled through the clothing section towards the food hall, in the hope of getting through a secure door that could only be opened by staff key cards.

She said that customers and colleagues appeared to not realise what had happened as she ran past them, until she shouted that she had been stabbed.

Colleagues gave her first aid by the tills, holding tissues to her neck wound, before paramedics arrived.

The court heard that Ms Worthington needed surgery to her neck, and suffered a collapsed lung and nerve damage.

“If I’d fallen he would have killed me,” she said, breaking down in tears in the police interview. “I’m lucky to be here.”

The court heard that Mr Hussain then stabbed Ms Dell in the arm, and “tried to stab her in the back” after she slipped on her own blood and fell to the floor.

“In what you may think was an incredible stroke of luck, the knife came down into the strap of her handbag, preventing it from penetrating her back,” Mr Leach told the jury.

“As a result of the blow, the blade of the knife snapped from the handle and became trapped.

“Having been effectively disarmed, the defendant fled the store. He was chased by the store detective James Brayford, out into the street. Together with members of the public, he brought the defendant back to the outer doors, where he caused him to await the arrival of the police.”

Ms Dell survived the attack, where stab wounds to her arm caused a fracture and tendon damage.

The court heard that in a police interview, Mr Hussain said he targeted Marks and Spencer deliberately because he believed it “funded Israel in what he described as its persecution of Palestine”.

“He said that on his arrival at the store, he had sought out the manager. He said he meant to kill her and that he meant to kill Janet Dell,” Mr Leach said.

“He said that, had his knife not broken, he would have gone on to kill others. He said that he expected that the police might kill him and he intended to be a martyr.”

The court heard that Mr Hussain now says he did not intend to kill or seriously injure the women, and is innocent of attempted murder.

Jurors were told that the defendant has a “complicated history of mental health problems”, but was assessed as being both able to understand and to control his actions on the day of the attack.

Mr Hussain, of Murray Street in Burnley, denies attempted murder and the trial continues.