Migrant murdered random pensioner ‘for Palestine’

‘He said he would have killed more people had he not injured his hand in the stabbing’

AN ASYLUM SEEKER randomly murdered a pensioner and tried to kill a Christian housemate “for the sake of Palestine” eight days after the Oct 7 massacre, a court has heard.

Ahmed Ali Alid, 45, had been living in a shared home with three other asylum seekers in Hartlepool, Co Durham, at the time of the attack.

Mr Alid tried to murder Javed Nouri as he slept because he regarded him as an “apostate” for converting from Islam to Christianity.

After attacking Mr Nouri he then ran into the streets in the early hours of Oct 15 last year, where he “chanced upon” 70-year-old Terence Carney who was taking a dawn walk.

Mr Carney saw the knife in Mr Alid’s hands and tried to evade him but was overpowered by the younger man, who stabbed him six times while circling around him, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, told the court: “Mr Nouri was a Muslim who had converted to Christianity and the defendant would therefore have regarded him as an apostate or murtad.

“When Alid was interviewed by the police, he initially thought that he had killed both Mr Nouri and Mr Carney.

“He said he had wanted to kill them because of the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Palestine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant the state of Israel.

“He said he would have killed more people if he had been able to do so, had he not injured his hand in the act of stabbing Mr Nouri and Mr Carney.”

Mr Alid denies murdering Mr Carney, attempting to murder Mr Nouri and assaulting two female police officers who attempted to interview him.

The trial continues.