Man convicted after Imperial Wharf rush hour knife attack

A man has been convicted for a frenzied rush hour knife attack in front of scores of commuters at a west London railway station in June last year.

Ahead of a trial that concluded on 12th March at Inner London Crown Court, Aidan Watts, 20, of Cremorne Estate, Kensington and Chelsea, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH).

Two other men – Jakada Joseph, 22, of Cambridge Gardens, Kensington and Chelsea, and Stefan Kosavac-Godart, 19, of no fixed address – were convicted of affray.

They will all be sentenced at the same court on 16th April.

BTP were called to Imperial Wharf railway station in Chelsea just after 5.20pm on 18th June 2025 to reports of a stabbing.

Officers raced to the scene with paramedics and found a 20-year-old man with multiple life-threatening stab injuries to his thigh, abdomen and buttocks.

He was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors and nurses worked to stabilise him.

BTP detectives had been alerted in the meantime and immediately launched an investigation to track down the offenders.

They spoke to several witnesses and established that the victim was on the same train as the suspect group, but they had not seen each other because the carriage was so busy. He had got off the train and was making his way along the platform towards the exit.

Watts, Joseph and Kosavac-Godart spotted the victim, who was known to them, on the platform. They ran to confront him and ambushed him, chasing him along the platform and tripping him over before Watts launched a frenzied knife attack in full view of onlookers.

After the attack the trio fled. Witnesses described seeing Watts carrying a machete with a red 40cm blade as he ran away.

As part of their enquiries, detectives examined CCTV coverage that showed Watts discarding items of clothing in a nearby residential estate after the attack. His distinctive, red-bladed knife was found close by after he tried to hide it by a set of maintenance units that formed part of the estate.

Watts was arrested on 22nd June, Joseph on 3rd July, and Kosavac-Godart on 29th July.

BTP DCI Paul Attwell, Senior Investigating Officer for the case, said: “What was a normal summer’s evening at a busy west London station very quickly escalated into serious violence.

“The two parties were on the same train, within feet of each other, and had the group not noticed the victim then the whole incident could have been avoided. As it was, they spotted him and outnumbered him, before Watts launched a spontaneous but targeted frenzied attack on the platform.

“I’m pleased to see his conviction today. Our detectives worked tirelessly to gather a wealth of witness statements, CCTV footage and forensic evidence. I’d like to thank them and our colleagues from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service for supporting our investigation.”

Anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, an offence should text BTP on 61016, or call 0800 40 50 40. In an emergency, always dial 999.

This article was published by the British Transport Police on 13/03/2026 and can be viewed at https://www.btp.police.uk/news/btp/news/in-the-courts/man-convicted-following-frenzied-summer-rush-hour-knife-attack--west-london/