‘Terminator’ machete Tube attacker Ricky Morgan guilty of attempted murder

A man who caused panic on the London Underground as he hacked at a stranger with a machete “like the Terminator" has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Passengers toppled over each other as they fled through carriages when Ricky Morgan launched an unprovoked attack on James Porritt, the Old Bailey heard.

Morgan, 34, was heard shouting “I kill him, I kill him” and told horrified onlookers: "This is not a terror attack, I only want him."

Mr Porritt, who suffered a severe injury to his hand, told jurors it was like a "horror movie" and likened it to a scene from the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi film Terminator.

Morgan denied attempted murder on grounds of insanity but was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey after two days of deliberations.

He was also convicted of possessing a machete and a lock knife.

In a statement after the guilty verdicts, Mr Porritt said the incident has changed his life.

“It’s been a long and traumatic road that I have had to travel. I am still in the process of recovery”, he said. “Until I reach that destination, it’s a road I continue to walk. The scars from this attack on my legs, elbow, arm, face/head and my entire right hand, will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

The attack happened on July 9 last year, as Mr Porritt, a self-employed businessman, took a Jubilee Line Tube with other commuters after a visit to the gym, on his way to meet his girlfriend and her father in west London.

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

“This was a completely unprovoked attack on a commuter on the Jubilee line going about his daily business”, said prosecutor Grace Ong.

Mr Porritt told the court he was minding his own business, looking at his phone, and being in a "bubble" as he sat in the carriage.

He heard a scream and then felt Morgan hitting him over the head.

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 said: "He was just hitting me. It did not make sense. I didn't understand why this guy was hitting me. There was no confrontation. There was no issue, it was just bang, (he) started hitting me.

"He was like a machine. It was like that movie Terminator.

"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.

"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.

"I just knew, fight or flight. I just ran for my life. It was like a stampede, people were terrified."

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 added: "It was just like he was a predator and he was hunting, and he decided he was hunting me."

Mr Porritt said it was "so surreal" to be targeted by a stranger on a rush-hour train.

"He just would not stop. He was relentless. He said he did not want anybody else, he just wanted me. He was fixated with me," Mr Porritt said.

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

Eyewitnesses to the attack described a stampede of Tube passengers, fleeing in terror from the rampaging Morgan.

A woman, who was on her way to a concert with her sister and a friend, reported seeing Morgan “holding the machete above his head and bringing it down with all his force”.

She saw her sister whose leg was covered in Mr Porritt’s blood, while their friend told police she heard the attacker shouting: “This is not a terrorist attack.”

Another passenger described a “look of anger flash across his face”, the court heard, while a man on board with an eight-month-old baby said: “Suddenly 30 to 50 people were running down. At the back of the group was James Porritt, blood coming from his head and his leg had been chopped.

“Mr Morgan was walking towards them, he had a machete in his right hand with blood on it, and a knife with a six inch blade. He said they started it, I’m not coming for you, it’s them.”

A doctor on board the train gave first aid to Mr Porritt, as police intervened to stop the attack and arrest Morgan.

On 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.

He also had an almost empty bottle of vodka in his rucksack, the court heard.

Morgan, of no fixed address, declined to give evidence in court.

Judge John Hillen adjourned sentencing until July 22 for a psychiatric report to be prepared.