A London man was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on Friday for stabbing a Jewish building superintendent in an antisemitic attack in July 2025, after Britain's Crown Prosecution Service insisted that the assault be treated as a hate crime.
The incident occurred on July 31, 2025, at an apartment building in a London suburb, but details were made public for the first time following the sentencing.
According to the indictment on which the resident was convicted, another tenant accused 51-year-old Alfonso Pena of stealing food she had kept in the communal kitchen. The building superintendent confronted Pena with security camera footage showing him taking and eating the food.
In response, Pena, who was heavily intoxicated, threatened the superintendent, asked him where he was from, and accused him of being a "Jewish terrorist" before fleeing the scene while shouting further abuse.
Pena later returned and stabbed the superintendent in the back, between his shoulder blades.
Following his arrest, Pena also threatened police officers and tried to bite one of them.
At his trial, Pena admitted to assault, possessing the knife and wounding the victim, but denied that he had intended to cause the injury. His defense attorney argued that he had suffered a psychiatric episode at the time of the attack.
Jury accepts prosecution's case, Pena charged with wounding with intent
The Crown Prosecution Service did not accept the qualified admission and took the case to trial to establish intent. After hearing all the evidence, including psychiatric assessments, the jury accepted the prosecution's case and convicted Pena of wounding with intent.
On Friday, Pena was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court to a total of six years and six months in prison.
Sophie Marja-Mattila, a senior prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in south London, said: "Alfonso Pena launched a violent and terrifying attack, having immediately beforehand demonstrated antisemitic hatred towards the victim. Such deliberate violence is disgusting and has no place in our communities, and fortunately the victim was not more seriously injured.
"Following an application by prosecutors, the court recognized that the hostility towards the victim's religion was an aggravating factor, and this was reflected in the increased sentence handed down today. I hope the increased sentence sends a clear message that such hatred will not be tolerated, and that those who carry out hate-motivated attacks will be held accountable.
"The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work alongside the police to ensure that this is the case."
Antisemitism in Britain reaches record levels
Despite the prosecution and the court's decision to convict Pena and increase his sentence, the ruling comes against the backdrop of a far broader phenomenon. Since the October 7 massacre, Britain has experienced sustained, unprecedented levels of antisemitism, with London, home to the country's largest Jewish community, at the center of the trend.
The Community Security Trust recorded a record 4,296 antisemitic incidents in 2023, followed by another 3,528 incidents in 2024, the second-highest annual figure since records began. Of those, 1,847 occurred in Greater London.
The trend continued in 2025, when 174 physical assaults and incidents of extreme violence were recorded. It intensified further during the first half of 2026, with 136 physical assaults, an 82% increase compared with the same period a year earlier and the highest half-year figure ever recorded.
Prominent incidents included the torching of ambulances belonging to the Jewish emergency response organization Hatzalah, attempted arson attacks against synagogues and Jewish institutions, and the stabbing of two visibly haredi Jews in Golders Green in April 2026, an incident that was declared a terrorist attack.