‘Unstable’ Libyan admits three park murders
Ex-teenage soldier who was given asylum despite criminal convictions went on rampage in Reading
A FORMER teenage soldier from Libya who was granted asylum in Britain despite having a string of criminal convictions and a history of mental health problems has admitted murdering three people during a knife rampage in Reading.
Khairi Saadallah, 26, who was said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” and was charged as a terrorist, had been due to go on trial on Nov 30.
But at a hearing at the Old Bailey yesterday, Saadallah pleaded guilty to three murders and three attempted murders, but denied he had been motivated by religious ideology.
Saadallah, who came to Britain in 2012 and boasted of having fought in the civil war in Libya, went on a killing spree in Forbury Gardens in Reading just before 7pm on Saturday June 20.
James Furlong, 36, David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-bennett, 39, all died in the attack while three others, Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan were badly injured.
It can now be revealed that Saadallah, who came from a well-off, middle-class family in Libya, had six convictions for 11 offences, some of them violent, in just four years after arriving in Britain. He also has a history of mental health problems.
In 2015 he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment and battery and two years later he was convicted of three assaults on a constable.
In November 2018, he was detained under the Mental Health Act after threatening to kill himself. When a female police officer approached him, he racially abused her and spat at her.
The following month he was caught in possession of a knife, which was hidden in the waistband of his trousers. In January 2019 he had an altercation with a security guard at a supermarket and hit him in the face with his belt. Finally, in August 2019, he spat at a custody officer who was trying to prevent him putting a jumper around his neck in his cell.
Saadallah was also on MI5’S radar as a potential terror threat over concern that he intended to travel to the Middle East and had been referred briefly to the Government’s Prevent programme.
Saadallah was granted asylum for five years i n 2018 and had only been released from prison 16 days before he went on his knife attack, having successfully appealed against the length of his sentence.
Last night his sister, speaking from the family home in Libya, told The Daily Telegraph that he was seriously mentally ill and had been let down by the authorities in the UK.
Eiman Saadallah said: “My brother is not stable. He was not himself at the time and he does not understand what is going on now. He does not understand the consequences of this, but this is a lifetime in prison.”
Saadallah’s mother added: “He is my son, he has an illness and he has not been looked after. He is ill and needs his medication.”
It has emerged that the day before the attack, a mental health team was asked to search for him after he disappeared from home. Later that evening, he was found on a street in Reading and taken to his council accommodation.
Official court documents confirm that Saadallah suffered from various mental health issues, including post traumatic stress disorder and emotionally unstable personality disorder. He also had a history of alcohol and substance misuse.
After arriving in the UK in 2012, Saadallah settled in Bury, Greater Manchester, where he enrolled on a computer studies course. He was well known for hosting wild parties. He later converted to Christianity.
Mr Justice Sweeney told the court the defendant had submitted a basis of plea, denying substantial preparation or planning and saying he was not motivated by an ideological cause. The prosecution assert that it was a planned terror attack. The judge adjourned sentencing until the week of Dec 7.