Mick Hartley

I know this is the kind of story that only gets reported in the likes of the Mail, the Sun, or the Express, and will get passed over by the more serious broadsheets: there was just a small paragraph in the Times today, which alerted me to it. Here's the Indian Express:

Four Muslim men had brutally attacked a school teacher, slashing his face and leaving him with a fractured skull, in London for giving lessons to Muslim girls about other religions, a court here has heard.

Akmol Hussein, 26, Sheikh Rashid, 27, Azad Hussain, 25, and Simon Alam, 19, attacked Gary Smith with a Stanley knife, an iron rod and a block of cement, The Daily Mail reports.

Detectives had secretly recorded the gang''s plot to attack Smith prior to the attacks in which they condemned Smith for “teaching other religions to our sisters”, the Snaresbrook Crown Court has heard.

The teacher was reportedly targeted while he was walking down the Burdett Road alone in nearby Mile End on July 12 last year, the court was told.

 “The evidence from what was said on the probe points overwhelmingly to a religious motive for this attack,” Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse, said.

When the story was originally reported, last July, there was no indication of a religious motive:

Mr Smith, who also runs a martial arts club, said that he did not believe the youths recognised him or targeted him for any reason.

He said from his home in Chingford: “I've absolutely no idea what the motive could be. I was just walking to work and it seems entirely random.

“They were probably just looking for someone to hurt and I happened to be there.

Now we hear that detectives had secretly recorded the gang's plot. Was that solely because they'd got wind of what the men were planning, or were they under surveillance for other reasons? And couldn't the detectives then have stopped the attack? OK, easier said than done, but it's all very odd – and very disturbing.