Killer won’t face court over deaths of British backpackers

A MAN who brutally killed two British backpackers in Australia will not face court over their deaths because of his mental illness.

Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 20, pictured, and Tom Jackson, 30, were killed by Smail Ayad in 2016.

But Justice Jean Dalton ruled that Ayad is not criminally culpable for the knife attack at Home Hill in Queensland. The Mental Health Court in Brisbane heard from psychiatrists that Frenchman Ayad was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. As a result, the court ruled he was of ‘ unsound mind’ during the murders.

In a moving victim impact statement Mia’s mother, Rosie Ayliffe, told the court she was still haunted by thoughts of her only child. She said: ‘Many, many nights I lie awake thinking about my daughter’s last moments and how it must have felt to her to lie dying.

‘Did she feel pain? Did she know she was going? The images haunt me.’

Crying as she continued, she told the court that tributes had come in from all over the world praising her daughter’s kindness and tolerance.

She said she wanted everyone to understand that Ayad had robbed her of her beloved daughter, who had everything to live for. ‘I am proud to have been her mother and I will hold her in my heart until I die,’ she said.

The court heard that Ayad had a ‘psychotic episode’ when he repeatedly stabbed Miss Ayliffe-Chung, from Wirksworth in Derbyshire, in her bedroom.

He then jumped through a window, suffering a fractured neck. He returned to Miss Ayliffe- Chung’s room where he repeatedly stabbed Mr Jackson as he was trying to help her. Ayad will be detained in a mental health facility.