Lecturer found guilty of trying to murder his estranged wife after stabbing her ... trends now
A university lecturer who stabbed his estranged wife more than ten times outside a child's parents' evening is facing jail.
Dr Ying Zhang, 55, stabbed Hannan Xiao, 52, in the chest, neck and back with a kitchen knife outside the school in Barnet.
Zhang would have killed Ms Xiao if electrician Richard O'Brien had not intervened by kicking him in the head with a steel toe-capped boot.
Ms Xiao, who teaches cybersecurity, sobbed 'stop it, help me' as Zhang stabbed her.
The lecturer has now been convicted of attempted murder and possession of a knife by an Old Bailey jury today after five hours and 14 minutes of deliberation.
Dr Ying Zhang, 55, a lecturer, has been convicted of attempted murder and possession of a knife
Judge Simon Mayo said he would recommend financial awards for the 'selfless and brave intervention' of witnesses Mr O'Brien and Sven Kupfer, who tried to push Zhang off his wife.
Zhang had repeatedly assaulted his wife and she had been to court several times to stop him harassing her, the Old Bailey heard.
The couple are both Chinese citizens. They met in 2004 and married in the UK in 2006 to live in Watford.
Ms Xiao is a senior lecturer in cyber security and director of online studies at King's College London.
Zhang was senior lecturer in Computer Studies at the University of West London, having gained a postdoctoral qualification from the University of Cambridge.
They had separated by the time of the incident.
Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, had said Zhang was in a 'state of cold fury' with his wife for divorcing him.
'He was not happy that she had made this request and asked her if she really wanted the divorce.
'She replied ''Yes''. He said she ''should think about it... you are too quick''.'
Hannan Xiao is a senior lecturer in cyber security and director of online studies at King's College London
Ms Xiao did not know Zhang was in the meeting, and when she left he followed her to her car.
CCTV shows him leaving the meeting and returning with a rucksack containing the knife.
He followed her out of the meeting to her car and when she spotted him they had an argument.
He then chased her into the road and began to attack her with the knife, Mr Hornsby said.
He said: 'When she left the school she returned to her car and found him behind her.
'He asked to get into the car saying that his was broken. She refused and said she was scared of him. She said he could get a train.
'She ran into the road. She remembers him running up to her and catching hold of her and then ''he was just stabbing me''.
'She asked him what he was doing and he didn't say anything. She turned away from him exposing her back in order to protect her chest and heart.
'The next thing she remembered was lying on the street on the road and an 'old man' holding her chest and she was covered in blood, and then a lady came to give her help who said she worked in a hospital.'
Mr O'Brien said Zhang seemed relentless and didn't flinch at anything anyone said.
He said: 'I thought that the female was going to lose her life if I did not stop
