CALL THIS JUSTICE?
Couple told daughter’s killer being freed and not deported
HE knifed his ex-girlfriend 14 times before dousing her body in petrol when she ended their relationship.
But asylum-seeker Ari Abdullah will soon be free after serving just 11 years for Samantha Anderson’s horrifying murder.
The nursery nurse did not stand a chance when the Iraqi body-builder lashed out with a kitchen knife as she returned to the Newcastle flat they used to share to pick up some post.
And after plunging the blade through her heart, Abdullah doused her body in petrol.
The factory worker admitted murder at Newcastle Crown Court and was jailed for life in 2007.
But after giving credit for his guilty plea and hearing mitigation about his troubled childhood in Iraq, Judge John Milford set the minimum sentence at just 11 years.
Now Samantha’s still-heartbroken family have been told he will be freed in July.
And the Andersons, who had been told the killer would be deported after his release, fear he may be allowed to stay in the country and live in the North East.
Samantha’s dad Peter, 61, said: “He’s a very, very dangerous person. What do you have to do to get thrown out the country? If he comes back to the North East we will have to be vigilant all the time. From July all our doors are going to have to be locked.
“It’s never going to go away and it doesn’t get any easier. But the thought of him walking free makes it worse.”
However, a Home Office spokeswoman told the Chronicle that every effort is made to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes on British soil.
She said: “Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them, and we have removed more than 40,000 foreign offenders since 2010.
“Every effort is made to ensure that offenders are deported upon the completion of their prison sentence. Where that is not possible, the Home Office can detain under immigration powers.”
Samantha grew up in Cramlington with her mum, dad and siblings Gary, Dawn and Jacqueline. At the age of 18 she decided she wanted to work with children, and eventually got a job at the Buffer Bear Nursery, near Newcastle Central Station.
Samantha met Abdullah, in 2003. She was smitten and, after a whirlwind romance, the couple got engaged and moved into a flat at Vallum Court in Newcastle’s West End.
Peter and Samantha’s mum Valerie have previously said they had concerns about Abdullah.
And they were relieved when in July 2006 the relationship ended after Abdullah, then 30, became violent towards his girlfriend.
Samantha, 29, returned to her family home in Cramlington, and Abdullah was cautioned for an assault against her.
In the following months Samantha seemed to be enjoying life without her controlling ex, her parents said. But a twist of fate led her back to the flat she had shared with Abdullah, on October 30, 2006, and ultimately cost her her life. Samantha told her family she was going to call in after work to pick up her post. But she failed to return home. Abdullah, who had drunk a bottle of whisky before his brutal attack, doused her body with petrol. But he never lit the fuel and was found slumped beside Samantha’s body. The Ministry of Justice contacted Samantha’s family about Abdullah’s release. They were asked for their views on which areas of Cramlington the killer should be banned from entering after he is freed, which is likely to be on July 4. The request cast doubt on their assumption that the murderer would be immediately deported after he left prison. “At court the barrister said when he gets out he’s going to be deported,” said Peter. “But that doesn’t ring true now, it’s all up in the air. “They are leaving us in the dark and we aren’t getting any answers.”
If he comes back to the North East we will have to be vigilant. All our doors are going to have to be locked Peter Anderson