An 11-year-old Australian tourist has been confirmed as the victim who was allegedly grabbed in a headlock and repeatedly stabbed with a steak knife in London.

The young girl and her mother were sightseeing in the Leicester Square area, in West End, just before the horrifying random attack on Monday (UK time).

“The defendant has approached the 11-year-old girl, placed her into a headlock and he has then stabbed her eight times to the body,” prosecutor David Burns told court on Tuesday.

She was wounded in the face, shoulder, wrist and neck, he said.

The girl was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. She had plastic surgery and has since been discharged.

Items on the floor of the TWG Tea shop in Leicester square after the attack. Photo: Getty

A Romanian citizen of no fixed address, Ioan Pintaru, 32, was charged with attempted murder and faced Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

He was also charged with possessing a bladed article in a public place.

Pintaru was not asked to enter any pleas. He was remanded in custody before his next court hearing at the Old Bailey on September 10.

British police said the incident was not believed to be terror related but was a “random attack on a child”.

About 2½ million people visit Leicester Square each week. The area bills itself as the beating heart of London’s West End with shows, shops, casinos and restaurants.

Ioan Pintaru has been charged with murder. Photo: Facebook

It was initially believed the girl’s mother, 34, was also hurt. But police said blood from her daughter’s injuries had been mistaken for injuries of her own.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Wednesday (AEST) confirmed it was providing consular assistance to two Australians in London.

The family is understood to be from NSW.

Westminster Magistrates Court heard passersby intervened and when police arrived they found a man being held on the ground.

A security guard at the TWG Tea store told media he “jumped on” the man and held him down with others after hearing a scream.

“I saw he was stabbing the kid I just put him down on the floor and hold him and kicked the knife away from him,” Abdullah, 29, told Channel Seven’s Sunrise.

“A couple more people joined as well and we hold him until the police came. It took maybe three to four minutes for police to arrive.”

-with AAP