An Uber driver who stabbed a street cleaner to death as he walked his dog in Uxbridge has been detained indefinitely in a secure hospital, after a judge ruled he was in a psychotic state when he carried out the frenzied knife rampage.
Dawood Safi, 28, killed 49-year-old Wayne Broadhurst in west London on 27 October last year. The violence began inside Safi’s own home on Midhurst Gardens, where he turned a blade on his landlord, Shahzad Farrukh, a contractor for Thames Valley Police, before spilling out into the street.
Southwark Crown Court heard that Safi was in the grip of paranoid delusions and hearing voices at the time. Moments later he came across Mr Broadhurst, who had just emerged from an alleyway while out with his dog, and stabbed him at least 14 times in what the judge described as a random and completely unprovoked assault.
A jury found Safi guilty of attempted murder over the attack on his landlord. He admitted the manslaughter of Mr Broadhurst on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and further admitted causing actual bodily harm to a 14-year-old boy and carrying a knife — an offence that has seen other defendants jailed in recent weeks.
On Monday, Mrs Justice Cutts imposed an indefinite hospital order with restrictions, meaning Safi will be held in a secure psychiatric unit rather than a prison, with no fixed release date. Dr Elliott Carthy, who assessed Safi at Broadmoor, told the court the order was necessary to protect the public, adding that Safi would be likely to spend at least five years in the high-security hospital before any move to a lower-security unit could even be considered.
A family robbed of a future
In an emotional statement read to the court, Mr Broadhurst’s partner Ann Newman said she had been robbed of the future the couple had planned together, and spoke of the daily weight of her grief.
Her sister, Laura Ireland-Cochrane, said the family understood the court had to follow the evidence to its legal conclusion, but admitted it had been extremely difficult to accept. She said the family must now live with the consequences of the decision — and with the fear that Safi could one day be released if his mental health improves.
Hospital order or prison sentence: what it actually means
Safi has not been handed a prison sentence. Instead, the court made what is known as a hospital order with restrictions — a disposal under the Mental Health Act used when an offender’s mental disorder means treatment, rather than punishment, must come first. Unlike a fixed jail term with a known release date, there is no end date to Safi’s detention. He can only be discharged or moved on with the agreement of the Ministry of Justice, and only when doctors and an independent tribunal are satisfied he no longer poses a danger to the public.
In practice, that can mean detention lasting far longer than any prison tariff for the same offences — or, if his condition responds to treatment and the risk recedes, a carefully managed return to the community under strict conditions. The restrictions exist precisely because the court judged him too unwell, and too dangerous, for an ordinary sentence.
Timeline: from cries for help to an indefinite order
- Days before the attack: Safi seeks medical help, attending appointments with his GP and undergoing a mental health assessment at Hillingdon Hospital.
- 27 October 2025: Safi stabs his landlord at their Midhurst Gardens home, then kills Wayne Broadhurst in the street and injures a 14-year-old boy.
- After his arrest: doctors diagnose Safi with psychotic depression.
- Trial at Southwark Crown Court: a jury convicts him of attempted murder; he admits manslaughter by diminished responsibility, actual bodily harm and knife possession.
- 5 October 2026: Mrs Justice Cutts orders his indefinite detention in a secure hospital, finding he was in a psychotic state during the attacks.
The court also heard that Safi had been granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom until 2027.
Sentencing him, Mrs Justice Cutts paid tribute to Mr Broadhurst, describing him as a gentle and quiet man who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time — stepping out of an alleyway with his dog when Safi set upon him. His killing is one of a number of homicide cases to have come before London’s courts this year.
Safi will now begin his indefinite detention at Broadmoor, where his treatment — and any future question of release — will remain under the close supervision of the courts and the Ministry of Justice.
