Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were named Friday morning as the two men killed in a terror attack outside Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester.
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that their families were being supported by their liaison officers.
Two people were killed and four were seriously injured by a terrorist who carried out a stabbing and car-ramming terror attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. The attacker, named as Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, was shot dead by police on the scene.
“Oh my god. Melvin is a lovely, lovely bloke. I can’t fault him,” Cravitz’s neighbor told The Telegraph. “He’s one of my best friends and his wife Karen. They are lovely people. This is all so horrible. We’re in utter shock.”
“My deepest sympathies are with Mr Daulby and Mr Cravitz’s loved ones at this extremely hard time,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes in a statement.
Britain’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would step up its efforts to tackle antisemitism in the country after the attack.
Orthodox Jewish men walk near the scene of a deadly terror attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, October 2, 2025. (AP/Ian Hodgson)
“We will redouble our efforts,” Mahmood told Times Radio on Friday.
“We will do whatever is required to keep our Jewish community safe,” Mahmood said. “People will see a heavier police presence at all communal facilities — primarily synagogues, but other places within the community as well.”
“We will, of course, now review all of the work that we do to tackle antisemitism.
In the hours after the attack on Thursday, several anti-Israel protests took place in British cities, with police clashing with demonstrators outside Downing Street, leading to 40 arrests.
Mahmood said that she had been disappointed to see the protests take place.
“I think that behavior is fundamentally unBritish… I think it’s dishonorable,” she said.
Britain’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks to members of the media near to Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 2, 2025, following an attack at the synagogue. (Oli Scarff / AFP)
Antisemitic incidents in the UK have hit record levels following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel and Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group for British Jews that works to eliminate antisemitism.
More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, the second-highest six-month total reported since the record set over the same period a year earlier.
“This is every rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare,” said Rabbi Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead Synagogue and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain. “Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack on Thursday and vowed to “defeat” antisemitism in his country.
Israeli leaders also condemned the attack, while taking implicit and explicit swipes at the UK government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement referenced his recent speech at the United Nations, where he castigated a string of countries, including the UK, that have recognized a Palestinian state.
