British man who stabbed violinist felt he had to kill a Jew, inquest learns

(JTA) — A British man who stabbed a local violinist to death had been discharged from a mental institution less than two weeks before the attack, an inquest has found.

Michael Kahan, 39, was stabbed to death in June 2008 outside of a kosher bakery in Crumpsall in suburban Manchester, according to an ongoing inquest in Manchester Coroners Court that resumed five-and –a-half years after the attack, British media reported.

Jonathan Mills, then 37, told police he carried out the attack, which police say was unprovoked, because, he said, he “needed to kill a Jewish person.” The attack came ten days after he was released from a psychiatric ward at North Manchester General Hospital.

It is believed that Mills stopped taking medication for his psychiatric condition. He had delusions that Jewish people were preventing him from getting his medication, according to the Jewish Chronicle.