A criminal who was left free to murder a beloved grandfather stabbed a complete stranger in the back only months before, The Independent can reveal.
Rasheed Rahman, who was found guilty earlier this year of murdering Mark Carroll in a random attack in April 2024, stabbed Iulian Cavaliuc in the back and attacked him with a wooden bat during a vicious assault in east London just two months before.
But Rahman, who was aged 19 at the time and living in supported accommodation, was not immediately arrested due to a delay in gathering CCTV.
He was only apprehended for the first stabbing when he was arrested on suspicion of murdering 55-year-old Carroll with a 5in knife and a police officer recognised him.
Rahman had already been arrested twice in the days before the murder, on 10 April, after he lashed out at members of the public on a canal towpath in Camden Town, north London.
He had also allegedly used a brick to smash a window to break into an office in a church. Despite his spiralling behaviour and previous offences, Rahman was released on police bail – leaving him free to kill.
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into contact police had with Rahman in the days leading up to Carroll’s murder – and whether anything could have been done to stop the killing.
Even before the February attack on Mr Cavaliuc, Rahman was known to police. Seven months earlier, in June 2023, Rahman pleaded guilty to possession of a Class B drug and possession of a sharp pointed article – a broken pub dart – in a public place.
Rahman, a Sudanese national who told immigration enforcement that he had come to the UK illegally via a lorry as a child, was sentenced to a community order.
A few months earlier, in March 2023, he had been granted temporary leave to remain in the UK following a successful asylum application. He had been living undocumented in the UK before being picked up by immigration officers while working at a restaurant in Essex in 2021.
There are also questions over how Rahman was able to carry out the murder with a kitchen knife from his Romford supported living hostel – despite residents at the accommodation being unable to use sharp knives without permission.
Last week, a jury at Wood Green Crown Court found Rahman guilty of wounding with intent over the attack in February 2024.
During the trial, the court heard how Rahman, who insisted he had been wrongly identified throughout the trial at Wood Green Crown Court, followed Iulian Cavaliuc and his brother Marius off the 86 bus at Ilford on the afternoon of 21 February 2024.
Before the three boarded the bus at Hainault station, Mr Cavaliuc had returned a bag of cannabis to Rahman, who was unknown to him, after finding it on the ground. When they alighted the bus at Ilford, Rahman started shouting at the brothers, saying “change, change, change”, and Mr Cavaliuc was forced to defend himself with a wooden plank he found on the ground when Rahman came towards him with a knife and a bat, the court heard.
The violent attack was completely unprovoked, with Mr Cavaliuc telling the court: “He was looking for trouble. He was looking for an argument. We had nothing against him.”
Rahman not only told the court that he didn’t carry out the stabbing, but claimed he never met the Cavaliuc brothers or ever took the 86 bus – despite CCTV footage showing him approaching Marius during the journey.
He also claimed he had been wrongly convicted for Carroll’s stabbing.
While Mr Cavaliuc had stab wounds to his left back, the weapon used was not recovered. Imogen Nelson, barrister for the prosecution, told the court: “Iulian Cavaliuc was subjected to an attack by a stranger, he was stabbed, which caused wounds, breaking of the skin, to his arm and the left side of his back.
“Mr Cavaliuc was also struck by some sort of thick wooden implement, which caused a fracture to his left arm. There is no doubt that he received these injuries because he was taken by ambulance to the Royal London Hospital.”
Mr Cavaliuc reported the incident to the police on the same day but confusion about where the attack took place led to a delay in recovering CCTV, Metropolitan Police detective sergeant Dean Puzey told the court. As a result, video footage from the surrounding area was not available, but officers were able to get CCTV from the 86 bus.
Rahman would go on to stab Carroll in the same area, in his left back, with the wound proving fatal within minutes.
Known as Mogi to his friends, Carroll was a Camden local with a huge heart. He would always strike up conversations with people and would accept them as they were, without judgement, his family said.
One of his two daughters, Ayisha Carroll, told The Independent: “He was probably one of the most giving people I knew. He was such a kind person.”
Carroll’s friend James Nash told the murder trial that he was standing in front of Mark when someone came at him from behind while they were in St Martin’s Gardens, Camden, telling the court: “I saw him [Rahman] lunge at him from behind. There was no argument, nothing.”
CCTV footage shown to the court showed Carroll staggering into sight, trying to walk towards Mr Nash before he collapsed to the ground at around 1.11pm.
Ten minutes later, ambulances, paramedics and the police arrived, and he was taken to University College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
While friends and paramedics rushed to help Carroll, Rahman was already walking through Camden, still armed with the murder weapon, which he then used to threaten two other people before his arrest.
Rahman’s hostel is operated by Soaring Heights Care and houses young people transitioning from care, or who have complex needs or challenging behaviour, or who are unaccompanied asylum seekers. Rahman’s case did not involve any mental health defence.
Rahman signed out the weapon from an Asda knife set kept by the hostel’s office, with house manager Idris Bello making a note of it in the “sharp knives log”.
Rahman had suffered from drug psychosis as a result of alcohol and drug misuse, a court was told.
