Hammer Attacker Receives Life Sentence

Philip Spence, 33, who savagely beat three sisters with a hammer as they slept at the Cumberland Hotel in central London has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years.

At the start of the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Simon Mayo QC said the three victims from the United Arab Emirates were subjected to a "sustained and vicious attack" which left their skulls
"fractured and splintered under the onslaught".
"Spence's intention, as the jury concluded, was to kill them," he said.

Spence split open the skull of Ohoud Al-Najjar, 34, leaving her with just 5% brain function. She can no longer speak and lost one eye. He carried out the attack as her nine-year-old nephew hid under the sheets beside her.


Her sisters Khulood, 36, and Fatima, 31, were both left in critical conditions and are still having medical treatment following the attack on 6 April this year.

Spence, from Harlesden in north-west London, was found guilty of attempted murder at London's Southwark Crown Court last month and Judge Anthony Leonard QC warned him at the time that he could face a "full life term" in prison, which is reserved for "very, very exceptional cases".

The prosecutor told the court Fatima showed "remarkable courage"  in trying to stop the attack on her sister Khulood.

"Spence, however, simply turned his attention to her and struck her repeatedly on her head with the hammer. Ohoud was subjected to an even more ferocious assault as she lay in her bed in the adjourning room. Her skull was smashed so badly that brain tissue protruded from a hole in her head.

"The attack on Ohoud was not witnessed by Khulood or Fatima. Spence may have attacked her after he had already savagely assaulted Khulood and Fatima and rendered them insensible.

"The attack on the women, shocking in its persistence and ferocity, was carried out in front of Khulood's children.

"And the vicious and merciless attack on Khuloud and Fatima was carried out in front of Nora aged 12 and young Fatima aged seven."

The perpetrator left the scene of the crime with a suitcase containing iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, and dumped the claw hammer he used in the attack outside the hotel in Marble Arch.

Mr Mayo said CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining the things he took from the hotel room and that he cared more about the profit he could make from his "awful crime" than his victims.