A terrorist who killed a pensioner in the center of Hartlepool in “revenge” against “the people of Gaza” has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
On October 15, Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed Terence Carney, 70, a stranger he met on the street.
Minutes earlier, he had entered the bedroom of his housemate, Javed Nouri, a convert to Christianity, and hacked him while he slept.
Nouri survived despite Alid shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great”, during an attack on an interior ministry-approved accommodation for asylum seekers. Alido then fled onto the street, still holding the knife.
During Alido’s trial, the court heard that a housemate had observed him watching news coverage of Hamas attacks. [on 7 October] He also started carrying a knife.
While in custody, Alid told police in an interview that he attacked Nouri and Carney because “Israel killed innocent children.”
Mr Carney’s wife, Patricia Carney, read out a statement at Teesside Crown Court, saying her “life changed forever” after Mr Alido’s attack.
The court heard early morning walks were part of Carney’s daily routine as he enjoyed the peace and quiet of early mornings.
Patricia Carney said: “Tess was doing what she always did, what she enjoyed. She was walking down the street believing she was safe and a chance encounter with this man ended her life.” Told.
She said she could no longer visit the town center because it was “too painful” to be near the spot where Alido killed her husband.
Footage from a doorbell camera showed Carney shouting “no, no” as Alid attacked him with a knife and yelling “Allah Akbar” as he walked through the town centre.
Alied was also motivated by Nouri’s conversion to Christianity. After his arrest, Alid was detained at Middlesbrough Police Station, where he declared that God was “displeased” with apostates, that “by the will of Allah, Gaza would return to an Arab country” and that if it were him he would “attack” it. I heard him say how he would have continued. If only his hand hadn’t been injured.
The judge, Mr Justice Cheema Gulab, told Mr Alid that when he killed Mr Carney in the terror attack, he had “wanted to frighten the British people and undermine the freedoms they enjoy”. She said the attack on Nouri was an attempt to punish him for converting to Christianity.
The judge said Alid then “attacked an unarmed elderly man who was unable to defend himself”.
She told Alid that a psychiatric report found no evidence of “psychosis or other serious mental illness” and that the jury “saw right through it.” [his] After claiming that police had mistranslated his statement, he added that he was not motivated by religious or political objectives.
Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, told the court: “In other words, he committed the attempted murder of Mr Javed Nouri and the murder of Mr Carney in revenge for what he believed was the murder of his children by Israel. “He said,” he said.
Nouri, 31, said he had “no longer trusted anyone” since the attack and “all thoughts and feelings of being in a safe country have disappeared”.
“I expected to be arrested and killed for converting to Christianity in my home country, but I never expected to be attacked here while I was sleeping,” his statement said.
“How can someone’s life be destroyed because of religion?”
After the verdict, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for a “major review of the UK’s asylum and immigration system”, but it “shockingly” took three years to process Alid’s claim.
She said: “These are the most horrific terrorist attacks and all our thoughts are with the victims, their families and the community.
“Ahmed Alid is responsible for these horrific crimes, but we cannot ignore the list of appalling failures in the way the Home Office handled his case.”
Mr Cooper criticized Mr Alid’s failure to challenge border force officials when he entered the UK illegally in 2020, and the failure of his case to be dealt with quickly.
Jill Mortimer, Conservative MP for Hartlepool, said Alido “should never have been” in the town.
