Overview
- A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Nandito Badea and George Stana guilty of wounding with intent on 5 June 2026 after a trial that began in May.
- The victim, Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati, was stabbed three times in the leg outside his Wimbledon home in March 2024 and required emergency hospital treatment.
- Prosecutors presented converging forensic and digital evidence including CCTV, mobile‑phone location and communications data, discarded clothing with DNA, travel records and bank transactions to show months of reconnaissance and planned, paid activity.
- The attackers fled the UK the same day, flew via Geneva and were arrested in Romania in December 2024; two were extradited to the UK for trial while a third suspect remains under Romanian proceedings.
- The pair face sentencing in early July and the case spotlights growing use of hired proxies to intimidate journalists, questions about past handling of reconnaissance by police and the need for continued international police cooperation to protect targeted media figures.