Man jailed for 5 years over series of violent antisemitic threats near London synagogue

36-year-old to be imprisoned for threatening six victims in Stamford Hill, including synagogue manager whose car window he smashed with a stone

A man was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment over a series of antisemitic threats directed at Jewish community members in north London, the Crown Prosecution Service announced Friday.

Tavius Jean Charles, 36, threatened six victims between October 2025 and March 2026 near Belz Synagogue in Stamford Hill, north London.

On March 16, Jean Chales shouted that he would “kill not just you” but “all… Jews” at synagogue manager Barry Bard and his son, then again threatened to kill Joel Scher as he drove by.

The assailant also threw a stone that smashed Scher’s car window.

Jean Charles was also overheard saying on his phone, “It would be good if we blew up one of their schools,” referring to Jews, by George Stamatakis on March 24. He was later arrested by the police that day.

“After presenting this overwhelming evidence to Jean Charles in court, he felt he had no choice but to change his pleas to guilty less than 30 days after he had first claimed he was innocent,” said Varinder Hayre, district crown prosecutor and hate crime lead in the London North area.

The sentencing came as antisemitism surges in the UK, including a spate of attacks that have left Jewish communities fearing for their safety. The UK’s terrorism threat level was raised last month to the second-highest level of “severe,” amid the attacks on the Jewish community, with security officials citing the “broader Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat.”

In April, two British Jews were stabbed by an assailant outside a synagogue in Golders Green. On Yom Kippur, in October, two Jewish men were killed in a terror attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, northern England.