Violent man killed stranger on busy Oxford Street

Tedi Fanta was on bail when he fatally stabbed Stephen Dempsey

A violent offender killed a complete stranger in a "ferocious" knife attack in London's busy Oxford Street.

An Old Bailey jury took one hour to rule that Tedi Fanta, 27, who was on bail, had fatally stabbed Stephen Dempsey, 60, in July 2021, after travelling from his home in Swansea.

The ruling came after Fanta was judged medically unfit to stand trial.

The "very, very ill" young man will be sentenced after a psychiatrist can be called to give evidence.

Judge Michael Topolski KC indicated Fanta was likely to get a hospital order with restrictions.

The court previously heard Fanta had brandished the weapon and jumped on the retired civil servant from behind outside the Microsoft store in Oxford Street shortly before 20:00BST.

A pair of passing skateboarders leapt into action and hit Fanta with their boards in a bid to disarm him, the Old Bailey was told.

Police rushed to the scene after reports of the stabbing unfolded

They then helped to restrain the attacker until armed police arrived, while other members of the public tended to the victim, who was visiting the capital from Essex.

When police arrived, Fanta was speaking in an "incoherent manner" and had a head injury from a blow from a skateboard.

Mr Dempsey, who was born in Belfast, had suffered four stab wounds and died in hospital later that night from a knife injury to the chest.

Previous convictions

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Fanta had carried out a "frenzied and fatal attack".

The court was told Eritrean-born Fanta, who arrived in Britain in 2014, had previous convictions for criminal damage, assaulting a police constable and emergency worker, and was on bail at the time of the killing.

Ms Carberry KC said he had been arrested on 18 June 2021 - days before the killing - for "brandishing a saw" in Swansea.

He was bailed by police for that offence, to appear at Swansea Magistrates' Court at a later date.

Fanta was initially charged with murder and possessing a knife following Mr Dempsey's death, but was judged unfit to stand trial and jurors instead deliberated whether he committed the acts alleged against him.

In a victim impact statement, Kathleen Dempsey said her brother was an "unassuming" man who had lived in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex since he was a child.

Mitigating, Patrick Upward KC said Fanta was conscripted into the Eritrean army aged 12 or 13 and was later shot and tortured.

He eventually sought sanctuary in the UK and was granted refugee status but "by then the damage had been done", he added.

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