COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

It happened at the University of Warwick's Sherbourne Halls of residence on the outskirts of the city



Two people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man was stabbed at a University of Warwick student accommodation block yesterday afternoon.

Armed police are understood to have attended the incident which happened at the Sherbourne Halls of Residence on Scarman Road on the university campus.

It happened yesterday afternoon (Wednesday November 17) shortly after 4pm.

Footage has been posted on Twitter which shows what seem to be armed officers racing up the stairs at the student accommodation building.

The clip also appears to show a man being handcuffed outside the building.

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said they had been called to attend reports of a stabbing and that a man sustained serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

They said that that the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance also attended.

A spokesman for Warwickshire Police said: "Police were called at 4.32pm yesterday (Wednesday 17 November) to reports that a man had been stabbed at a property in Scarman Road.

"Officers attended and found a 19-year-old man with stab wounds.

"He was taken to hospital where his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

"An 18-year-old man from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire and an 18-year-old woman from London have both been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder."

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We were called to reports of a stabbing near to Gibbet Hill Road at 4.24pm yesterday.

"One ambulance, a paramedic officer and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance were sent to the scene.

"On arrival we discovered one male patient who was treated for serious injuries before being taken to hospital by land ambulance.

"The air crew travelled on the back of the ambulance to help continue treatment en route to hospital."

Warwickshire Police have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Detective Inspector Cawail Wong from Warwickshire Police CID said: “This was a serious incident in which a young man has suffered stab wounds. I would appeal to anyone with information about it to contact police.”

Anyone with information in the incident is asked to contact Warwickshire Police on 101 quoting incident 276 of 17 November 2021.

Information can also be given anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Confusion on campus after Warwick University student stabbing

In the days following a stabbing at the University of Warwick, the dominating emotion among students on the university’s campus was one of confusion.

An official statement from the university initially confirmed that three people were involved in the incident, which “resulted in one of them being taken to hospital with what are thought to be non life-threatening injuries".

Seeking to reassure students, the statement continued “the incident was isolated, it has now concluded and the police are investigating”, and that “there is no danger to students or staff”.

With the university’s statement at the time suggesting no further information would be supplied regarding the specifics of the incident or the relationship between the three people identified to be involved, rumours continue to circle among students on campus.

When speaking to several different students, each relayed a slightly different apparent version of events, seemingly based on speculation in the absence of official confirmation.

One student told CoventryLive: “It was scary when I first started seeing people talk about it on social media, because I thought it might have been a random attack.”

As another student also expressed, relying on speculation has become a source of concern for some: “The rumours are just escalating and nobody seems to know exactly what happened. I think a lot of people want to know the details just for peace of mind that there's definitely nothing to worry about.”

The rumours seemed to begin immediately after the incident took place.

Reporting for the university’s student newspaper The Boar , Amber Bentley arrived at Sherbourne residences shortly after the incident to find some evacuated students seemingly unperturbed by the event - mostly because none of them knew for sure what had happened.

Many huddled over phones to watch a video shared on Twitter, seeming to show armed police inside the building and a man being handcuffed outside.

One student, who lives in a nearby block of the Sherbourne residences, reflected on how “strange” it was to be so unsure about the details of the incident days after it occurred, adding that even those living in the affected block were reporting different accounts of the event.

Proximity to the site of the incident has shaped student reactions in the aftermath. Living in Leamington Spa, third-year student Euan Healy said “it all felt quite distant until we got on campus the next morning”.

In contrast, one student living in nearby Lakeside accommodation said: “I felt on edge when I started hearing that something had happened at Sherbourne. I wasn’t even sure if it was safe to leave my block, so I cancelled plans and stayed in.”

Both students shared that they felt “relieved” when the university confirmed that the victim’s injuries were thought to be non life-threatening.

West Midlands Police has since stated that two people have been charged with wounding with intent. They are: Rohan Ahluwalia-Pandor, 18, of Barns Lane, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire and Anam Ausaf, 18, of Wilkinson Close, London.

They are due to appear at Warwick Crown Court on December 17.