George Rowe

George Rowe, a 79-year-old decorated World War II veteran living in Tower Hamlets, east London, was returning home from collecting his weekly pension at a post office in Limehouse on 30 December 2002 when he was attacked in the lift of his block of flats in Stepney by Sabul Miah. 

Miah, then 28, a crack and heroin addict from Poplar, stabbed the pensioner in the chest, slashed his throat, and stole £149 (or £123 in some reports) from his pocket after Mr Rowe tried to resist; the brutal assault left Rowe a “shell of his former self,” and he died four months later from lung cancer discovered while in hospital. 

Miah carried out a series of similar knife-point robberies on at least five (and was linked to up to 15) elderly victims in the East End over several months to fund his drug habit, including stabbing an 82-year-old woman in the hand.

In August 2003 at Southwark Crown Court he was sentenced to two life terms for the robbery and wounding of Mr Rowe, plus further sentences for the other attacks, with the judge describing him as a “grave danger” to the elderly. 

Rest in peace George. You will not be forgotten.