Family of UK student killed on Israeli tram ‘outraged’ at jail term

THE family of a British exchange student stabbed to death in Israel has criticised the “lenient” sentence given to the man convicted of her killing.

Jamil Tamimi, 59, a Palestinian, was handed an 18-year sentence yesterday for murdering 20-year-old Hannah Bladon on a tram as she was going to the church where she volunteered.

Murder usually carries a life sentence in Israel, but Tamimi accepted a plea bargain acknowledging he was mentally ill and admitted to his guilt, while being exempted from paying the Bladon family financial compensation.

“This was not a terrorist incident ... This was a terrible murder carried out by a mentally ill person,” the prosecutor at the Jerusalem District Court said, explaining why a life prison sentence had not been sought.

Maurice Hirsch, the family’s representative, said yesterday that Miss Bladon’s family was disappointed by the length of the sentence.

“For the family, it makes no difference whether this was a terror attack or just another crazed murderer,” Mr Hirsch said. “They are outraged by the leniency of the sentence. They expected that Hannah’s murderer would spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Miss Bladon was a religious studies undergraduate at the University of Birmingham who had arrived in Jerusalem last January as part of an exchange programme with The Hebrew University. She had reassured friends on Facebook that she was safe in Jerusalem.

“I’m OK thanks. Security is really tight on campus so no worries at mo [sic],” she wrote.

Tamimi targeted Miss Bladon, from Burton upon Trent, at random when she came within his reach after she offered her seat to an older woman. He stabbed her at least seven times during the attack in April 2017.

Tamimi had recently returned to his home in east Jerusalem after being released from a psychiatric facility.

His lawyer said he attacked Miss Bladon in a rage after his sons insisted that he stay in a mental institution rather than with them. “This drove him to stab a person to death so that he would be shot dead,” the lawyer said.