Attackers including former pro footballer found guilty of stabbing Iranian TV presenter in the street outside his Wimbledon home after they were recruited by Tehran regime

Published: 15:14, 5 June 2026 | Updated: 15:26, 5 June 2026 Two men have been found guilty of stabbing a prominent TV presenter on a suburban street in a case that has exposed the Iranian government's use of 'criminal proxies' in the UK. The men were members of a team that had flown in from Romania and spent a month running surveillance operations on a house in an exclusive street in Wimbledon, South London. Victim Pouria Zeraati was stabbed three times in the leg in a daytime attack outside his home as he was making his way to his Tesla to drive to the studio for his show. Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said the attack was 'deliberate, planned violence' aimed at causing serious injury to Zeraati as part of a campaign of 'harassment and intimidation' by Iran. The trial heard Nandito Badea, 21, a former professional footballer, approached and asked Zeraati if he had any change as David Andrei, 22, grabbed the presenter from behind, pinning his arms to his side. Badea, who was wearing a hooded top with the word 'gangster' on the front, drew a knife and stabbed him before both men, who had been taking drugs, ran off laughing. They jumped into a blue Mazda 3TS hatchback, driven by George Stana, 25, who was waiting in a side road with the engine running and sped from the scene with the doors still open. The men drove to Cavendish Avenue in New Malden where they abandoned the car, dumped their clothing in a nearby bin and used the Bolt app to call a taxi, heading for Heathrow Airport.  CCTV captured the moment Pouria Zeraati was stabbed repeatedly in the leg before running away from his attackers outside his home in Wimbledon, South London, in March 2024 George Stana and Nandito Badea were recruited to carry out the attack By the evening, they were taking off on a British Airways flight to Geneva from where they returned to Bucharest. Mr Atkinson KC told the court the men were motivated by money but were acting as criminal 'proxies' for the Iranian state. An Iranian-linked group is said to be behind a series of attacks on Jewish targets in North London in March and April, hiring proxies on the Telegram social media app. However, the latest case, dating back to March 2024, showed a more complex hiring process. Badea, who was hired as the 'muscle', had played for FC Astra Giurgiu and CS Blejoi in Romania before working in construction. The plot was said to be funded by an Iranian-British businessman called Edgar Hakkopian, 41, who ran the Tehran Cafe in Finchley, North London. The target, Mr Zeraati, was a high-profile presenter for Iran International a dissident TV station then based in Chiswick, West London which had been repeatedly targeted by the Iranians. In 2022 the TV station was designated as a terrorist organisation by the Iranian regime which declared that anyone working with the organisation would be deemed a threat to Iranian national security. The Iran International journalist told passersby who came to his aid that he had been on the receiving end of threats before Zeraati was left hospitalised after the stabbing, which was carried out by three men said to be acting as criminal 'proxies' for the Iranian regime In November 2022 posters were put up in Tehran, the Iranian capital, which featured pictures of a number of journalists including Zeraati, under the heading 'Wanted: dead or alive'. Around the same time his wife was threatened by two men on a motorbike as she was walking along a street in Chelsea, heading to the Harbour Club. In February 2023, Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, a member of a Chechen organised crime group in Vienna was spotted trying to film the Iran International offices in Chiswick and arrested in a nearby Starbucks. Investigation of his phone revealed there had been three previous visits, by others unknown, who had also taken videos of the offices, beginning in the summer of 2022. Police had to provide armed security and for a period the TV station moved to Washington DC when they were told their employees could not be protected adequately in the UK. They returned to the UK in September but their head offices in Acton, West London, were among those targeted in the latest spate of Iranian proxy attacks on April 15 for which three men aged 21, 19 and 16 have been arrested and charged. Badea and Stana were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court and will be sentenced in July.  Andrei could not be extradited because he was subject to domestic proceedings in Romania. A courtroom sketch of Badea and Stana, who have been convicted of carrying out the violent attack Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Scotland Yard's counter-terror command said that since the attack on Zeraati, 'criminal proxies' had become the 'preferred route' for foreign states involved in sabotage and intimidation. 'I hope this investigation demonstrates it is not worth it,' he added. 'People think they will get away with it but they will face the full weight of counter-terrorism policing. 'Significant assets and resources will all be brought to bear. We will actively pursue you in the UK or overseas. We will find you, arrest you and prosecute you to the full extent of the law.' No comments have so far been submitted. 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