A 24-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder over the stabbing of a British soldier earlier this week, UK police said on Thursday.

Anthony Esan is due to appear in court later in the day following the attack on Tuesday evening near an army barracks in Kent, southeast England.

The victim, a man in his forties, is in hospital and his condition “is currently described as serious but stable”, Kent Police said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the incident, which occurred in the town of Gillingham, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southeast of London.

Parallels were drawn to the 2013 murder of British soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death by two Islamist extremists on a southeast London street.

Kent Police are yet to indicate any motive in the latest attack but they are not thought to be treating it as terror-related.

The force had said it was “exploring the possibility that it may be mental health related”.

Officers arrested Esan in nearby Rochester within half an hour of being called to the scene of the attack, near the British Army’s Brompton Barracks.

The suspect was reported to have left the scene on a motorcycle, and “a number of knives” have been seized, the force said in an earlier statement.