‘Terminator’ Tube machete attacker who tried to kill commuter is jailed

Horrified passengers toppled over each other as they attempted to flee Ricky Morgan’s unprovoked attack on business consultant James Porritt

A man who left a business consultant fearing for his life after attacking him with a machete on a packed Tube train has been jailed for life.

Ricky Morgan, 35, acted “like the Terminator” as he hacked at James Porritt in an unprovoked attack in front of terrified passengers travelling on the Jubilee Line in central London.

Horrified onlookers toppled over each other as they attempted to flee through carriages to escape the attacker.

Victim James Porritt told a trial at the Old Bailey Morgan’s attack was like a ‘horror movie’ and the sci-fi film ‘The Terminator’ (PA)

But Morgan was heard to tell horrified passengers: “This is not a terror attack, I only want him.”

Mr Porritt, who suffered a severe injury to his hand and bone-deep cuts to his head and shin, told a trial at the Old Bailey it was like a “horror movie” or the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi film The Terminator.

Morgan, of no fixed address, denied attempted murder on grounds of insanity but was found guilty by a jury on 20 May following two days of deliberations. He was also convicted of possessing a machete and a lock knife.

The defendant was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years at the Old Bailey on Monday for carrying out what a judge described as “every Tube traveller’s nightmare”.

The incident, caught on CCTV, went on for 20 minutes before Morgan was confronted by police and dropped the machete.

Graphic footage showed Morgan shouting and thrashing with the machete inside the carriage as terrified passengers scrambled to get away.

Sentencing Morgan, Judge John Hillen told him: “Having watched many times during the trial the ferocity of your attack captured by on-board CCTV images, James Porritt is very lucky to have survived.

James Porritt had to hold his severed finger to his hand (PA)

“What happened will haunt him for the rest of his life. He thought he was going to die and never expected to escape from that attack alive.

“Many if not most of the people in the carriage, fearing you were about to slash people indiscriminately – and at least some of them fearing it was a terrorist attack – got up and started screaming and frantically trying to get away.

“It was a wonder that no one else suffered injury. I think it is not too sensationalist or overdramatic to say this was every traveller’s nightmare.”

On the evening of 9 July 2021, Mr Porritt, a self-employed businessman, had visited a gym and was on his way to meet his girlfriend and her father in west London.

He got on a northbound train at Westminster before Morgan produced the machete and a lock knife from his rucksack near Green Park.

In a video interview played in court, Mr Porritt described minding his own business and being in a “bubble” as he sat in the carriage.

He was looking at his phone and feeling nervous about the family meeting when he heard a scream.

The next thing he knew, the defendant was hitting him over the head, the court was told.

He put his hand up to protect himself during the onslaught, the jury heard.

Describing the attack, he said: “I was pleading ‘Please stop, please stop’.

“I was in shock, it was like a horror movie. I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.”

Mr Porritt said he did not feel anything but saw the blood as Morgan smashed an object over his head.

“He was like a machine. It was like that movie, Terminator,” he said. “He was emotionless. He did not seem to have any kind of compassion. But it seemed very focused and relentless and he was just hellbent on doing what he was doing.

One witness said Morgan let out an ‘unholy scream’ as he hit out with the machete (PA)

“He was like on a mission. He kept hitting my shin and I genuinely thought I was going to die.

“I’ve got nothing left now. I don’t know how I escaped. I was scared I was going to lose my little finger and I held it together.”

Morgan pursued him and lunged the “huge” blade through the window of the connecting carriage door, Mr Porritt said.

Pointing with the knife through the door, Morgan said: “I don’t want anyone else, I just want him,” the court heard.

Mr Porritt described the machete as “like something out of Arabian Nights”.

He managed to get away and through a carriage door while holding the severed parts of his hand together.

People were screaming but they could not hold Morgan off, and Mr Porritt added: “It was just terrifying.”

According to witnesses, passengers got up and screamed when the attacker started waving the knife around. Many tried to run away but in the panic ended up piled on the floor, the court heard.

One witness said the attacker let out an “unholy scream” as he hit out with the machete.

Another passenger bravely tried to engage with Morgan and told him to “calm down”, the court heard.

Meanwhile, a doctor who happened to be on the train gave Mr Porritt first aid.

After being confronted by police, Morgan dropped the blade, put his hands up and got on the floor.

He told officers it was “a road issue” not a “terrorist attack”, adding: “If I had known it would cause this much drama I would not have done it.”

Morgan was to tell a psychiatrist he had been carrying the machete and lock knife around for some time.

The court heard Morgan had a history of low-level violence dating back to the age of 13. He had 26 previous convictions for 58 offences, including the more serious crime of discharging a sawn-off shotgun into a private house.

In mitigation, Warwick Aleeson said the offences were likely to have come about as a result of Morgan’s “profound and serious undiagnosed schizophrenia”.

On Morgan’s willingness to seek treatment, the barrister said: “Ricky Morgan does not wish to be the terrified, deluded creature living in a room he had barricaded from the outside world believing attackers were going to kill him.”

Morgan, born in Newham, east London, had a troubled upbringing and became homeless following his release from prison in 2020.

Additional reporting by PA