In June 2020 three men were stabbed to death in a park in Reading, a town 50 miles west of London. The attacker, Khairi Saadallah, had come to England after taking part in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya but then became radicalised by jihadists.
A Libyan national who stabbed three men to death in England last summer has been given a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey.
Khairi Saadallah, 26, shouted “Allahu Akbar” before knifing US citizen Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, history teacher James Furlong, 36, and scientist David Wails, 49, as they sunbathed in Forbury Gardens in the centre of Reading in June 2020.
It has since emerged that Saadallah had taken part in Libya’s civil war but was granted refugee status in 2018.
Saadallah admitted murder but denied it was pre-planned or was motivated by a religious cause.
A Newton hearing took place at the Old Bailey in London last week and on Monday, 11 January, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that he had been motivated by a belief in a “religious jihad” and therefore qualified for a whole life sentence.
Relatives of the victims will now be asking questions of the Home Office, the prison authorities, the probation service and the security services.
It has emerged Saadallah was not deported to Libya despite several criminal convictions because of unspecified “legal barriers”.
In 2018 Saadallah was assessed by Prevent and found to have no clear ideology and was thought to need “additional mental health support”.
The following year MI5 had Saadallah under investigation as a person who might travel to Libya “for extremist reasons” but they later dropped the probe.
Alison Morgan QC, prosecuting, told the hearing last week Saadallah had intended to “kill as many people as he could” in the name of jihad.
The court heard Saadallah arrived in Britain in 2012 and was originally refused asylum after it emerged he had been involved in militias fighting against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the Arab Spring.
But he appealed against deportation and was allowed to stay in Britain. The court heard he was convicted of various offences between 2013 and the killings in June 2020.
The court was told Saadallah associated with radical preacher Omar Brooks from the banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun, while in Bullingdon prison.
Police officers stand guard outside a park in Reading after three men were killed in June 2020
He was released from Bullingdon prison only days before the attack but his deportation was reportedly delayed by the confused situation in Libya.
Mr Ritchie-Bennett and his friends Mr Furlong and Mr Wails were only in the park because their local pub, the Blagrave Arms, was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After they were stabbed Saadallah went on to stab Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan, who survived despite “significant injuries.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
0.00 (0%) 0 votes
