Man jailed for ‘frenzied’ summer rush hour knife attack – West London

A man has been jailed for a frenzied rush hour knife attack in front of scores of commuters at a West London railway station, following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

Ahead of a trial that concluded on 12 March at Inner London Crown Court, Aidan Watts, 20, of Cremorne Estate, Kensington and Chelsea, pleaded guilty to Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH).

Watts was sentenced at the same court on Thursday 7 May to five years and one month imprisonment, with an additional year to be served on licence.

Two other men – Jakada Joseph, 22, of Cambridge Gardens, Kensington and Chelsea, and Stefan Kosavac-Godart, 19, of no fixed address – were convicted of affray.

Kosavac-Godart was given a conditional discharge following time served on remand. We await sentencing information for Joseph.

BTP were called to Imperial Wharf railway station in Chelsea, West London, just after 5.20pm on 18 June 2025 to reports of a stabbing.

Officers raced to the scene with paramedics and found a 20-year-old man with multiple life-threatening stab injuries to his thigh, abdomen and buttocks.

He was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors and nurses worked to stabilise him.

BTP detectives had been alerted in the meantime and immediately launched an investigation to track down the offenders.

They spoke to several witnesses and established that the victim was on the same train as the suspect group, but they had not seen each other because the carriage was so busy. He had got off the train and was making his way along the platform towards the exit.

Watts, Joseph and Kosavac-Godart spotted the victim, who was known to them, on the platform. They ran to confront him and ambushed him, chasing him along the platform and tripping him over before Watts launched a frenzied knife attack in full view of onlookers.

After the attack the trio fled. Witnesses described seeing Watts carrying a machete with a red 40cm blade as he ran away.

As part of their enquiries, detectives examined CCTV coverage that showed Watts discarding items of clothing in a nearby residential estate after the attack. His distinctive, red-bladed knife was found close by after he tried to hide it by a set of maintenance units that formed part of the estate.

Watts was arrested on 22 June, Joseph on 3 July, and Kosavac-Godart on 29 July.

BTP Detective Chief Inspector Paul Attwell said: “What was a normal summer’s evening at a busy West London station very quickly escalated into serious violence.

“The two parties were on the same train, within feet of each other, and had the group not noticed the victim then the whole incident could have been avoided. As it was, they spotted him and outnumbered him, before Watts launched a spontaneous but targeted frenzied attack on the platform.

“Our detectives worked tirelessly to gather a wealth of witness statements, CCTV footage and forensic evidence. I’d like to thank them and our colleagues from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service for supporting our investigation.”

Violence on the railway network won’t be tolerated. Anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, an offence should text BTP on 61016, or call 0800 40 50 40. In an emergency, always dial 999.