Asylum seeker who stabbed pensioner to death at random as 'revenge' for Israel-Hamas conflict jailed for life

17 May 2024, 11:59 | Updated: 17 May 2024, 12:42

Asylum seeker Ahmed Ali Alid has been jailed for life for stabbing a pensioner to death, which he said was 'revenge' for the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Alid, 45, stabbed Terence Carney, 70, six times in Hartlepool town centre early on October 15 - eight days after Hamas's violent October 7 attacks on Israel.

The Moroccan was jailed at Teesside Crown Court today and will serve a minimum term of 45 years.

The judge said Alid had committed terrorist offences when he murdered Mr Carney and after attempting to murder his housemate Javed Nouri.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb ruled Alid would serve 44 years and 52 days in prison following his conviction for murder and attempted murder, as well as two further offences after attacking two police officers while in custody.

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Minutes before Alid's fatal attack on Mr Carney, the migrant - who was staying at nearby asylum seekers' accommodation - broke into the bedroom of his housemate and attacked him with a knife while he slept.

Screaming "Allahu Akbar" - meaning "God is great" - Alid attacked Javed Nouri at the Home Office-approved asylum seekers' accommodation in Wharton Terrace.

Mr Nouri, a 32-year-old Christian convert and former bodybuilder, suffered stab wounds but survived the attack.

Alid strongly disapproved of Mr Nouri's conversion to Christianity and told him God was "displeased" with those who went astray, the court earlier heard.

The extremist then went out into the street, still armed with a knife.

Doorbell camera footage showed Mr Carney, who was out in the town centre, screamed "no, no" Alid stabbed him in the chest and neck.

Mr Carney was a random passerby, having recently used a nearby cash machine. First aid was immediately administered by officers, but Mr Carney died at the scene on Tees Street, Hartlepool.

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Prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court said it was not a frenzied attack but a deliberate attempt to target Mr Carney's body repeatedly before he walked off, leaving his victim for dead.

In a holding cell at Middlesbrough police station after his arrest, Alid then launched into a speech in Arabic saying that "Allah willing, Gaza would return to be an Arab country" and how he would have continued his "raid" if his hands had not been injured.

In a statement read to the court during the sentencing hearing, Mr Carney's wife Patricia Carney said: "Tess was doing what he had always done and enjoyed doing - he was taking a walk on a street he believed to be safe and a chance encounter with this man ended his life."

She said she had been with Mr Carney from a young age and, although they had been living separately for a few years, were "still very much together".

Mrs Carney's statement said she could no longer go into town because it was "too painful" to be near the spot where her husband was murdered.

"From that day on, my life would be forever changed. I don't feel anything anymore," she said.

Javed Nouri, 31, said since the attack, he did not "trust anyone or anything" and that "all thoughts and feelings I had of being in a safe country have gone".

"I would expect to be arrested and killed in my home country for converting to Christianity but I did not expect to be attacked in my sleep here," his statement read.

"How is it possible for someone to destroy someone's life because of his religion?"

Mr Nouri said he now struggled with mental health problems and had had to move cities, losing all his friends.

He added: "I want to tell Ahmed: You are a weak person, because of your religion you attack someone in deep sleep and an old man who struggled to walk."

During Alid's trial, jurors heard his housemates noticed he had watched a lot of coverage of the Hamas attacks on Israel and began carrying a knife.

Concerned, Mr Nouri complained to housing bosses, the Home Office and Cleveland Police, and a manager warned Alid to behave or risk being thrown out.

During his police interview the day after the murder, Alid told police he launched his attacks because "Israel had killed innocent children".

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, told the court: "In other words, he said he had committed the attempted murder of Javed Nouri and the murder of Mr Carney in revenge for what he believed to be the killing of children by Israel."

Mr Sandiford added: "He swore by Allah that, if he had had a machine gun and more weapons, he would have killed more victims."

Alid admitted Mr Carney was "innocent", justifying the attack by saying that Britain had created the "Zionist entity" of Israel and should make them leave, adding: "They killed children and I killed an old man."

During questioning, Alid began to get agitated and got into a struggle with two female detectives, one of whom pressed a panic button that did not work.

The situation was so frightening, Alid's own solicitor rang 999 to ask for help, before officers were able to force entry into the room and subdue him.

Alid denied murder, attempted murder and assaulting the two officers, claiming he did carry out the stabbings but without intention to kill or cause serious harm. He was found guilty of all four charges last month.