Life in prison for jihadi who knifed 3 to death in park
A TErrOrIST who killed three men in a ten- second rampage was jailed for life yesterday.
But grieving families demanded to know why Khairi Saadallah, a ‘monster’ with a violent criminal history, was free to carry out the attack.
He knifed history teacher James Furlong, 36, scientist David Wails, 49, and their friend Joseph ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a park in reading.
The 26-year- old refugee should have been in prison for an appalling series of violent crimes but was freed early on appeal and struck just 15 days later.
Mr Furlong’s distraught father Gary said he did not understand why Saadallah was at large. ‘There are now serious questions that need answering, most notably, how the killer was ever in a position to commit these horrific acts,’ he said. ‘Seeking asylum here in 2012 he has obtained a litany of criminal convictions, including assaults on the public, police, and emergency services, along with carrying a bladed weapon.
‘ While in prison it was decided by the Secretary of State on June 4 2020, just two weeks prior to the attack, that his deportation was in the public interest but for legal reasons it could not happen.
‘You look at this person and you’ve got to say how was he ever allowed to stay in this country? He wasn’t safe to put back on the streets.’
The victims’ families wept at the Old Bailey as they thanked the judge for handing out a very rare whole-life tariff. Mr Furlong said: ‘ No other outcome would have been acceptable to us.’
Saadallah arrived in Britain aged 17 on a visitor’s visa and failed twice to win asylum in 2012. Home Office officials were aware of his background as a child soldier training with Ansar Al-Sharia, an Islamist terrorist militia in Libya. Yet he was granted leave to remain in 2018 despite racking up a string of convictions.
Behind bars, he fell under the spell of notorious hate preacher Omar Brooks, who was a spokesman for the banned terrorist organisation Al-Muhajiroun and an associate of convicted terrorist Anjem Choudary.
Mr Justice Sweeney ruled the murders last June 20 – carried out with a knife bought at a Morrisons store – were a terrorist attack. He dismissed Saadallah’s ‘ crude’ bid for a lesser sentence by feigning mental illness.
The judge said: ‘ His intention for the purpose of advancing his extremist Islamic cause was to kill as many people as possible.’
He was handed three life sentences as well as 24 years for the attempted murders of Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan in the ten-second rampage.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Wails’s mother Joan said: ‘There is no sense in David’s death, it was cruel, inhumane and cowardly.
‘The shock horror and grief of hearing that my son David and his two friends had been killed will stay with me for the rest of my life. What this person did to David and his two friends is monstrous. That’s why my family and I refer to him as a monster. We don’t use his name, he is not deserving of it. He is a coward.’
Eilish O’Gara, of the Henry Jackson Society and a former Prison Service adviser, said: ‘The Prison Service must urgently explain why dangerous radicalising offenders like Omar Brooks continue to be placed with vulnerable prisoners, despite facilities existing to isolate them.’
Saadallah used public cash to launch a series of legal claims, including an ongoing matter against the police.
The violent drug user, who was hooked on cannabis and spice, has claimed more than £ 37,000 in legal aid, including for the Court of Appeal hearing that led to him being freed early from jail in Oxfordshire.
The sum includes £8,653 spent on his five-year battle to stay in the UK and six other claims, including one for secure housing.
‘Inhumane and cowardly’