Man detained for stabbing dog walker to death

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Dawood Safi, 28, fatally stabbed Wayne Broadhurst, 49, in the street during a series of knife attacks which began at Safi's home in Uxbridge on 27 October 2025.

Safi, who was having paranoid delusions and hearing voices, attacked his landlord Shahzad Farrukh minutes before killing Broadhurst, and also stabbed a 14-year-old boy.

At Southwark Crown Court, Mrs Justice Cutts said Safi, an Afghan refugee, had been "in a psychotic state" and recommended that he be deported, but said the final decision rested with the Home Secretary.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge acknowledged the "devastating" impact of the crime on Broadhurst's family, and added that he was "a hard-working and decent man who was deeply loved".

Cutts told Safi: "Wayne Broadhurst, a gentle and quiet man, had the misfortune to be walking his dog at the time.

"As he emerged from the alleyway on to the street, you set upon and killed him in a frenzied, random, and completely unprovoked assault involving stabbing him at least 14 times."

Broadhurst's partner, Ann Newman, told the court she had had a "future stolen from me" and described facing up to a daily battle with grief and loss.

Safi, who appeared for his sentencing hearing on a video link from the high-security Broadmoor hospital, was born in the Kapisa province of northern Afghanistan.

He was smuggled in to the UK on the back of a lorry in November 2020 and lied about his age – saying he was 17 instead of 22 – to stand a better chance of asylum.

He worked as an Uber driver, studied for a mechanics qualification at Uxbridge College and had no convictions since entering the country.

He had sought help from doctors for his deteriorating mental health prior to the stabbings, which began at his home in Midhurst Gardens.

The court was told that in the three days before the stabbings, Safi had attended an appointment at his GP, had a mental health assessment at Hillingdon Hospital and had sought help at Hayes police station.

After the stabbings, doctors concluded Safi was suffering from psychotic depression which had led to the violent offences.

Dr Elliott Carthy, who assessed Safi at Broadmoor, said he had "paranoid and persecutory beliefs", and voices in his head contributed to his actions that day.

He said a hospital order with restrictions was the best way to protect the public "going forward now and in anticipation of his release into the community".

He said Safi was likely to spend at least five years at Broadmoor before being considered for transfer to a medium security facility where he would stay for several more years, and if he is released into the community he would be under strict conditions and subject to lifelong monitoring.

Safi admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility, was found guilty by a jury of attempting to murder Farrukh and pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm against the teenage boy as well as possession of the knife.

Prosecutors dropped a charge of murder after the guilty plea to manslaughter was entered, and after receiving expert reports on Safi's mental health.

The judge told the court she would have sentenced Safi to life in prison with a minimum term of eight years if he had not been mentally unwell.

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