Murder Attempt
On 14 May 2010, Timms was approached by 21-year-old Roshonara Choudhry, during a constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way, Beckton, East London. Choudhry stabbed Timms twice in the abdomen with a 6-inch (150 mm) kitchen knife, before being disarmed. She stated that she had been influenced by watching sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that her attack was to punish Timms for voting for the Iraq War, and seek revenge for the Iraqi people.
Timms suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds – lacerations to his liver and a perforation to his stomach. A police officer at the scene remarked that Timms "was extremely fortunate not to have been killed". Stephen underwent emergency surgery at the Royal London Hospital, from which he was discharged on 19 May.
On 2 November, Choudhry was found guilty of Timms' attempted murder. She was subsequently given a life sentence, with a recommendation that she serve a minimum jail term of 15 years. After the court case, Timms said he was not bitter, but that forgiveness was not an issue until his attacker showed remorse. Stephen has since sought the banning of incendiary material on popular internet sites "to protect other vulnerable young people from going down the same road." YouTube removed some videos of al-Awlaki within hours of the sentence.
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