Scotland Yard has admitted that the family of a man charged with attempted murder after a knife assault at an underground train station here in a suspected terror attack had earlier contacted them to warn of his erratic behaviour.
Relatives of 29-year-old attacker, Muhaydin Mire, had growing fears over his behaviour and expressed concerns over his mental health with the Metropolitan Police.
The family is understood to have told officers they wanted Mire committed under the UK Mental Health Act, according to 'The Daily Telegraph'.
"The police were contacted by a family member approximately three weeks before the incident on Saturday. There was no mention of radicalisation; the conversation related entirely to health related issues and the family were therefore correctly referred to health services for help," a Met police statement said.
Mire, who is charged with attempted murder for the knife attack at a busy Underground station in east London on Saturday night, was interviewed by mental health specialists over the weekend and is undergoing ongoing assessments while awaiting a court appearance at the Old Bailey court in London on Friday.
The suspect had been working as an Uber cab driver but in August this year his mental health worsened once again.
His brother Mohamed Mire said that "he was talking nonsense and saying that he was seeing demons."
"He went a bit crazy, he was saying odd things. I explained to the family the situation, we tried to get him help, we tried to call the local authority," the brother said.
"They could not help him, they said he was not a harm to people and he was not a harm to himself. We tried to tell them - this guy has mental issues, can you at least section him. I talked to the police," he said.
Muhaydin Mire came to Britain when he was 12 from Somalia and went to school in north London.
"He was a good boy and he loved football. As far as I know he loved education, he wanted to be a computer scientist. It did not work out for him. He got in with the wrong people," his brother told 'Channel 4' news.
Mohamed believes his brother developed mental health problems after smoking cannabis.
"He was diagnosed by a doctor and treated in 2007 for paranoia and (treated) in hospital for three months," he said.
Muhaydin had appeared in court yesterday accused of leaving his victim with a 12cm knife wound after looking at terrorist activity linked to Syria on his mobile phone.
He pounced on his victim from behind before shouting "this is for Syria, my Muslim brothers", Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.
