'Terminator' Tube attacker who tried to kill a passenger is jailed for life
12 September 2022, 17:05
A would-be killer likened to “the Terminator” who caused terror on the Tube with a sustained attempt to murder a fellow passenger has been jailed for life.
Ricky Morgan, 35, used a machete to hack at victim James Porritt, almost severing his finger and leaving him with deep wounds to his wrist and the left side of his head during the unprovoked attack on the Jubilee Line.
At the Old Bailey on Monday, Morgan was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 16 years by Judge John Hillen.
”Having watched many times the ferocity of your attack, captured on CCTV, James Porritt is very lucky to have survived”, he said.
“I think it’s not too dramatic to say this was every Tube traveller’s nightmare.”
Confronting his attacker in court, Mr Porritt stared at Morgan in the dock as he said: “This is not fair, I didn’t deserve this, this should never have happened to me.”
He said the sentence “will never give me back the life you took away from me Ricky Morgan – I hope you realise that.”
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Fighting back tears, Mr Porritt revealed how he now suffers from night terrors, suicidal thoughts, and has been left needing indefinite medical care and daily assistance for basic tasks.
“It has completely impacted and irreversibly changed for the worse and traumatised not only me but also the lives of my loved ones”, he said, describing a 'never-ending nightmare'.“
"There were times when I wished my attacker, Ricky Morgan, had finished me off”, he added, accusing the attacker of showing no remorse for his actions.
Mr Porritt was on his way to meet his girlfriend and her father at around 6.30pm on July 9 last year, and had only decided to take the Jubilee Line to avoid delays on his usual Tube route.
Morgan, a complete stranger to him, pulled a machete out of his bag and let out an “unholy scream”, the court was told before raining down blows on the victim who had been stood next to him.
During the trial, Mr Porritt said the attack – as the train travelled between Green Park and Bond Street - was like a "horror movie" and liked it to the sci-fi film The Terminator.
“I was pleading ‘Please stop, please stop’”, he said. “I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.”
Passengers reported hearing Morgan shouting at Mr Porritt: “I don’t want anyone else, I just want you”, as well as declaring: “This is not a terror attack, I only want him.”
The court heard Morgan has a long criminal record including offences of assault, criminal damage, aggravated vehicle taking, possession of drugs, and was first jailed at the age of 14.
In 2011, when a crack cocaine user, Morgan was jailed for six-and-a-half years for firing a shotgun into a stranger’s home in east London.
Newham-born Morgan, of no fixed address, denied attempted murder on the grounds of insanity and also pleaded not guilty to two charges of carrying offensive weapons. He was convicted by a jury following a trial on all three counts.
