A 47-year-old woman has been charged after four men were stabbed in central London on Wednesday. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to reports of a stabbing on Endell Street in Covent Garden at 12:27pm and found four men aged 34, 39, 42 and 52 with stab wounds.
What is the latest development?
The woman, identified by the BBC as Stella Gollovena of no fixed address, has been charged with four counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. Police had earlier said a 47-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and assault.
The men were taken to a major trauma centre after the attack. The Metropolitan Police later said two of the four men stabbed that afternoon had been discharged from hospital, while the other two remained in hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening or life-changing.
What did police say happened?
Police said investigators believe the stabbing was a mental health-related incident, and a pair of scissors was recovered at the scene. The current condition of the victims has not been released, and police remained at the scene after the attack.
Workers at the 2 Chairs Grooming Room said one of the victims ran into the shop, took his shirt off and revealed a large gash on his back. Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart, who leads policing in the area, said officers responded quickly after a number of reports.
“Officers responded within minutes of this incident after receiving a number of reports.
“While still at an early stage of the investigation, we would like to reassure the community that we currently believe this to an isolated, mental-health related incident.
“A visible police presence will remain in the area while evidence is gathered at the scene and we thank the public for their understanding.”
What did witnesses see?
Another eyewitness told the Press Association that the stabbing took place outside the Shaftesbury Theatre before the woman made her way down Endell Street.
“We noticed she stabbed three people with scissors by the theatre then she came down here and the police were here,”
Matt Bishop, 42, who works at a consultancy firm just next to the scene, told the Press Association that the woman arrested appeared “quite old” and had short hair.
“She didn’t seem to be particularly coherent. She was pretty incoherent in what she was shouting. The officer was asking what language she was shouting,”
Witnesses said it looked like a woman used a pair of scissors to stab the four men.
Andrea, the manager of the Da Mario restaurant on Endell Street, said he recognised the woman.
“She’s often on the street. We’ve seen her do things like this before. She’s recently got in an argument with a mate and thrown a bottle of vodka on the floor and it smashed outside the restaurant,”
As of 3:30pm, the cordon was no longer in place and Andrea was serving tiramisu to his customers.
Who else witnessed the attack?
Arjan Gjorga, who works at the fish restaurant the Rock and Sole Plaice, witnessed the attack. He believed the woman is known to workers on Endell Street, a popular road in Covent Garden for eating and drinking.
“I see her all the time, she’s a homeless person. She walks around up and down asking for help, she visits the church at the top of the street,”
He did not have to close his restaurant, but said:
“We all saw a commotion. People were running away”.
Gjorga said the victims appeared to have been chosen at random.
“It was totally random, just random people. She suddenly started stabbing them,”
He praised the police response.
“The police reacted immediately. They arrested her right away.”
According to police, knife crime offences have dropped 3% for year-to-date 2026 compared with year-to-date 2025 across the Met service area. This includes an 11% reduction in knife-enabled robberies and a 1.5% reduction in knife-enabled crime where a knife was used to injure.
How were the victims taken to hospital?
The London Ambulance Service said an ambulance crew, a paramedic in a fast response car and an incident response officer rushed to the scene and treated the four men before transporting them to a major trauma centre by road. The service also dispatched London’s air ambulance.
Video showed a red helicopter making a dramatic landing in the middle of crowded Trafalgar Square.
What happens next?
The case will now proceed through the courts after the charge against the 47-year-old woman was announced. Police have described the incident as isolated and mental-health related, and the investigation into what happened on Endell Street is continuing.
The BBC said the story was still being updated at the time of its report.
