Killer of 3 in park ‘a ruthless jihadist who planned spree’
A KILLER who stabbed three people to death and injured three others in a Reading park was a ‘ ruthlessly efficient’ terrorist, a court heard.
Khairi Saadallah allegedly shouted ‘Allahu akhbar’ during the violent spree on June 20 last year.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said the 26-year-old, originally from Tripoli, Libya, aimed to kill as many people as possible in ‘an act of religious jihad’.
Saadallah, of Reading, has pleaded guilty to three murders and three attempted murders but denies having a terrorist motive. The sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey will determine if the attacks were terrorist acts and therefore subject to a higher sentence.
History teacher James Furlong, 36, scientist David Wails, 49, and US citizen Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, were fatally stabbed in the attack in Forbury Gardens. Their friend Stephen Young, and Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan, who were sitting nearby, were injured.
Ms Morgan said: ‘In less than a minute the defendant carried out a lethal attack with a knife, killing all three men before they had a chance to respond and try to defend themselves.
‘Within the same minute, the defendant went on to attack others nearby.
‘The prosecution’s case is that the attack perpetrated by the defendant was carefully planned and executed with determination and precision.’
Saadallah arrived in the UK as an asylum seeker in 2012, having fled the civil war in Libya. He had previously been involved with militias who had risen up against Col Muammar Gaddafi and was pictured handling weapons, including firearms.
Since living in Britain he had been repeatedly arrested and convicted of various offences, including theft and assault, between 2013 and last year.
In 2017, he was in jail at HMP Bullingdon at the same time as radical preacher Omar Brooks, who is associated with the banned terrorist organisation Al-Muhajiroun.
Ms Morgan said Saadallah was seen to be keen to associate with Brooks and was ‘impressionable and volatile’. Saadallah was released on June 5, just days before the attack. On June 15, he searched the internet with the question ‘Is Corona a sign of the end of the world’ and looked up images of military activity in Libya and body bags.
The same day, it is alleged he was caught on CCTV footage as he carried out ‘reconnaissance’ of the park. The day before the attack, he was caught on CCTV footage at Morrisons supermarket buying a knife. The hearing, before Mr Justice Sweeney, continues.