Overview
- Musse Ali, 68, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Thursday to manslaughter, two counts of wounding with intent and possessing a knife.
- He denied murder on the basis of diminished responsibility due to schizoaffective disorder, and the Crown Prosecution Service accepted those pleas.
- Eight psychiatric assessments agreed his long‑standing illness severely impaired his judgment and self‑control at the time, and he was judged too unwell to take part in court for months.
- Judge Nigel Lickley KC will set a sentencing date at a May 1 hearing, and Ali remains held at Broadmoor Hospital.
- CCTV and witness accounts say he entered East Street Market on November 10, 2024, produced a large knife, fatally stabbed 77‑year‑old Hilkiah McLeggan, and seriously injured Ho Man Yau and Baheru Nadew Bartura before stallholders restrained him.