Edinburgh man charged with five attempted murders after terror-linked attacks

Lewis Hawkes, 36, was brought before Edinburgh Sheriff Court after a series of attacks across the city left five men injured and triggered a counter-terrorism investigation. Prosecutors charged the Edinburgh man with five counts of attempted murder, and each charge was aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection.

The case goes beyond the five attempted-murder allegations. Hawkes was also charged with assault and robbery, two counts of breach of the peace and two counts of culpable and reckless conduct, with all of those charges likewise marked as terrorism-linked. He made no plea, was remanded in custody and was committed for further examination, with a further appearance due within eight days.

In legal terms, the terrorist-connection allegation is the part that prosecutors say links the violence to a wider ideological purpose, rather than treating it as isolated street crime. That aggravation still has to be tested in court, but it allows the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to present the attacks as conduct with an alleged terrorism dimension, not just public disorder or assault.

The charges followed incidents on Friday, June 19, 2026, that drew in counter-terrorism officers after reports of violence, robbery and vandalism in Edinburgh, including at Leith Walk and other locations. Police said five people were injured. The victims were reported as men aged 22, 22, 24, 27 and 39, and three of them were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the attacks appeared to have an anti-Muslim motive, and reporting described the incidents as suspected faith-based hate attacks. Police later said there was no further threat to the public.

The prosecution places Edinburgh in a broader U.K. pattern in which ideologically motivated violence, especially attacks linked to hate against religious communities, is increasingly being handled through terrorism-related aggravations as well as ordinary criminal charges. For Scottish prosecutors, that distinction matters: it signals that the alleged violence is being treated as part of a wider threat to public safety and community cohesion, not simply as a sequence of isolated offences.