10 violent crimes which horrified west London with their viciousness and brutality

10 brutal crimes that shook west London

1. Elderly woman left battered and bruised by assault on own doorstep

   An 82-year-old woman was strangled with her dog's lead during a "vicious unprovoked attack".

   Catherine Smith was on her mobility scooter walking her pet when she first saw her attacker. After returning home, the woman was waiting outside Ms Smith's house and started harassing her, asking for money.

   Ms Smith was pushed backwards by the front door and then strangled with her dog's lead before the woman ran off.

2. Man found guilty of brutal 'cannibalistic' murder of Westminster police officer in drug-fuelled attack

   Gordon Semple was brutally murdered by a man he had met on the dating app Grindr, who had been up all night and taking drugs.

   The awful crime was described as "cannibalism" by one detective. The victim's remains were found six days later in the bathroom of a London flat, in bin bags containing his body parts.

3. Man's neck broken during 'violent' Jubilee Line brawl in which men were punched and kicked in the head

   Two men were pinned to the floor and punched and kicked in the head on a Jubilee Line train during the early hours following a fight that broke out from an argument.

4. 'Horrific' Rolex robber who repeatedly glassed his victim in the face jailed for 12 years

   Mowleed Abdullahi's victim was left unconscious and with serious facial injuries that needed more than 50 stitches.

   Police were called to the scene and they found the victim lying in the street where he had been attacked by Abdullahi, who was 18 and from Bancroft Gardens in Harrow.

5. Uxbridge man jailed for brutal attack outside pub

   Mark Gillard was jailed for 10 years for a brutal assault with a pickaxe handle which left the victim in a coma.

   The defendant, of Radnor Grove, Uxbridge, launched a "relentless attack" on his 33-year-old victim, who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage.

6. Football thug jailed for gouging Tube worker's eye

   A father-and-son pair of football thugs from Ashford were found guilty of a brutal attack on Tube staff, following an infamous Chelsea vs Cardiff match which was marred by severe hooliganism.

   Dale Stephens, 24, gouged out the eye of a London Underground worker and punched him in the face after his father, Patrick Stephens, 46, was told to stop urinating on a Piccadilly Line platform at South Kensington.

7. Man battered care worker to death with fire extinguisher in Ealing

   Michael Meanza murdered Jenny Foote in a "brutal and violent attack" in her office at the mental health charity-run Collette House, in Acton, Ealing.

   Meanza "repeatedly [struck Foote in] the head and face with a large, heavy extinguisher."

   He was then arrested later that day clutching a framed photograph of his girlfriend and a radio and told police: "I know I'm guilty."

8. Woman found collapsed in street after suffering fractured skull in violent robbery

   A 31-year-old woman who suffered from a bleed to the brain and fractured skull was found collapsed in a Harrow street after she was violently robbed.

9. Six men convicted and sentenced over gang knife attack

   Six members of an Edgware gang were convicted and sentenced for a violent gang attack.

   One victim was forced to strip down to his underwear before being stabbed several times, suffering a life-threatening injury to the chest.

   The violent attack had been planned and premeditated, with the convicted gang setting up the attack on the false pretext of a drugs deal.

10. Stepfather who brutally battered five-year-old stepson to death in public park over lost shoe was jailed for life

    Marvyn Iheanacho, 39, from Hounslow, was told he would serve a minimum of 21 years for the murder of his stepson Alex Malcolm.

    Iheanacho was dating Alex's mother and became enraged when the youngster misplaced one of his trainers.

    Witnesses described hearing Alex's fearful voice saying "sorry" followed by loud banging and then Iheanacho screaming about the loss of a shoe in Mountsfield Park.

    Instead of rushing the boy to hospital, he carried him to a local cab office and went to Ms Breha's flat - despite being just five minutes from a hospital.