London man charged in weekend robbery, stabbing in downtown core

A 52-year-old London man is facing charges in connection with an early morning incident over the weekend in the downtown core that saw a man allegedly strike another man with a pipe and stab him in the chest before stealing a bicycle, police said.

Along Richmond Street near York Street at around 1:50 a.m. on Saturday, a 26-year-old male was confronted outside of a residence by another male. The two knew each other.

In a release Monday, police said the victim was allegedly struck by the accused with a pipe, and stabbed in the upper chest. The victim suffered serious injuries. Emergency crews found him at the scene and took him to hospital for emergency surgery.

The accused fled the scene before police arrived, having allegedly stolen the victim’s bicycle. He was later apprehended.

Officers searched a downtown residence on Richmond Street on Sunday and seized a knife and a number of other items, police said. The search required some assistance from the London Fire Department, who lent officers the use of a ladder to search the building’s rooftop.

“We had information that led us to a nearby rooftop, and we simply required the fire department to help us in gaining access to the rooftop where we could actually locate and recover a couple pieces of key evidence,” said Det. Sgt. Blair Harvey.

“The evidence that was retrieved from the rooftop appears to be the weapons that were used as part of the robbery and the aggravated assault.”

Daniel Stephen George, 52, of London faces a charge of robbery/theft from person with violence and aggravated assault in connection to the incident, police said.

He was scheduled to appear in court by video on Monday.