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A man who panicked in the London Underground while hacking a stranger with a machete “like the Terminator” has been found guilty of attempted murder.
The passengers overturned on top of each other as they ran through the carriages as Ricky Morgan launched an unprovoked attack on James Porit, Old Bailey heard.
Morgan, 34, was heard shouting “I’m killing him, I’m killing him” and told terrified onlookers, “This is not a terrorist attack, I just want him.”
Mr Porit, who suffered a severe injury to his arm, told the jury it was a “horror film” and likened it to a scene from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sci-fi film Terminator.
Morgan denied attempted murder on the grounds of insanity, but was found guilty by a jury in Old Bailey after two days of deliberation.
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Ricky Morgan, 34, found guilty of Tube attack (BTP / PA)
/ PA Media
He was also convicted of possession of a machete and a locking knife.
In a statement after the guilty verdicts, Mr Porit said the incident had changed his life.
“It was a long and traumatic journey that I had to go through. I am still in the process of recovery, “he said. “Until I get to this destination, this is the path I continue to take. The scars from this attack on my legs, elbow, arm, face / head and my whole right arm will stay with me for the rest of my life. ”
The attack took place on July 9 last year, when Mr Porit, a self-employed businessman, took the Jubilee Line with other passengers after a visit to the gym, on his way to meet his girlfriend and father in West London.
He boarded the train north at Westminster before Morgan pulled his machete and key blade from his backpack near Green Park.
“It was a completely unprovoked attack on a Jubilee passenger who was engaged in his daily work,” said prosecutor Grace Ong.
Mr Porit told the court he had watched his work, watched his phone and been in a balloon while sitting in the carriage.
He heard a scream and then felt Morgan hit him on the head.
The victim is James Porit
/ PA
He raised his hand to protect himself during the attack, the jury heard.
Describing the attack, he said, “I prayed, please stop, please stop.”
“I was in shock, it was like a horror movie. I really thought he was going to kill me.”
Mr Porit said he felt nothing but saw blood as Morgan smashed an object over his head.
He said: “He was just hitting me. It didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand why this man was hitting me. There was no confrontation. There was no problem, it was just a blow, (he) started hitting me.
“He was like a machine. It was like that Terminator movie.
“He was emotionless. There seemed to be no compassion. But he seemed very focused and ruthless, and he was just hell-bent on doing what he was doing.
“He was on a mission. He kept hitting my shin and I really thought I was going to die.
British Transport Police
“I have nothing left now. I don’t know how I escaped. I was afraid I would lose my little finger and held it together.
“I just knew fight or flight. I just ran to save my life. It was like a bump, people were terrified.”
Morgan chased him and threw the “huge” blade out the window of the carriage’s connecting door, Mr Porit said.
Pointing the knife through the door, Morgan said, “I don’t want anyone else, I just want him,” the court heard.
Mr Porit described the machete as something from Arab Nights.
He added: “It was as if he was a predator and was hunting and decided he was hunting me.”
Mr Porit said it was “so surreal” to be targeted by a stranger on a rush hour train.
“It simply came to our notice then. He was ruthless. He said he didn’t want anyone else, he just wanted me. He was nailed to me, “said Mr Porit.
British Transport Police
He also managed to escape through the carriage door, while holding the cut parts of his arm together.
Eyewitnesses of the attack described a collision of subway passengers fleeing in terror from the raging Morgan.
A woman traveling to a concert with her sister and a friend said she saw Morgan “holding the machete over his head and taking it down with all his might.”
She saw her sister, whose leg was covered in Mr Porit’s blood, while a friend of theirs told police she heard the attacker shout, “This is not a terrorist attack.”
Another passenger described “an expression of anger on his face,” the court heard, while a man on board with an eight-month-old baby said, “Suddenly 30 to 50 people came down. At the back of the group was James Porit, the blood coming from his head and his leg cut off.
“Mr. Morgan was walking toward them, he had a machete in his right hand with blood on it and a six-inch blade. He said they started it, I’m not coming for you, they are. “
A doctor on board the train provided first aid to Mr Porit as police intervened to stop the attack and arrest Morgan.
After facing the police, Morgan dropped the blade, raised his hands, and climbed to the floor.
He told police it was a “road problem” and not a “terrorist attack”, adding: “If I had known it would cause so much drama, I would not have done it”.
Morgan had to tell a psychiatrist that he had been carrying the machete and knife around for some time.
He had an almost empty bottle of vodka in his backpack, the court heard.
Morgan, without a fixed address, refused to testify in court.
Judge John Hillen adjourned the sentence until July 22 to prepare a psychiatric report.
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