Manslaughter plea accepted in dog walker killing

A man has admitted killing a dog walker in what prosecutors described as a "frenzy of violence" in west London.

Dawood Safi, 23, fatally stabbed 49-year-old Wayne Broadhurst on 27 October 2025. Earlier that day he had attacked his 45-year-old landlord, Shahzad Farrukh, and a teenage boy in Midhurst Gardens, Uxbridge.

Safi pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Broadhurst on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to his psychotic state - which has been accepted by the prosecution.

He will stand trial before a jury at Southwark Crown Court on charges of attempting to murder Farrukh and the 14-year-old boy.

Jonathan Laidlaw KC told the court four mental health experts had concluded Safi suffered a "complete mental collapse" during the incident.

Psychiatrists described him as neurotic, with a tendency to ruminate and worry, and said he had developed a "rigid sense of right and wrong".

Laidlaw said: "He was in a psychotic state and had lost contact with reality. He was not able to distinguish what was real and what was not. He was hearing voices and had delusional beliefs."

At an earlier hearing, Safi also pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon and admitted grievous bodily harm with intent and actual bodily harm in relation to the other two victims.

Broadhurst was a stranger to Safi when and died after suffering multiple stab wounds to the neck, chest and side.

The prosecution acknowledged that Broadhurst's family had wanted Safi to be found guilty of murder.

Safi entered the UK in a lorry in 2020 and was granted asylum in 2022, the Home Office previously confirmed.

The court heard that he had witnessed the killing of his father and had "endured some hardship" while entering the UK.

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