Horrific Moment Killer Stabs Three Men to Death While Screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Minute-Long Park Rampage

THIS is the chilling moment a killer stabs three men to death while screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ in a minute-long park rampage.

Libyan refugee Khairi Saadallah, 26, stabbed and killed James Furlong, 36, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and David Wails, 49, as they drank together in a Reading park.

He has admitted three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, but denies being a terrorist following the shocking attack last year.

The “brutal” killings lasting less than a minute took place in Forbury Gardens as the pals enjoyed the newly-relaxed coronavirus restrictions on June 20.

CCTV footage released by counter-terrorism cops shows Saadallah leaving his flat and stopping next to some bins before carrying out the attack.

He is then seen chasing across the park after people as they flee before running in the opposite direction.

Chilling footage

CCTV shows him stopping again next to the bins after the horror attack before running off.

Hero cops are seen tackling Saadallah on a road before arresting him as he tries to escape.

Three officers pin him to the ground as he is detained.

In a 999 call, a witness is heard frantically urging emergency services to send help.

The court was told the attack was likened to “a game of duck duck goose” in horrific first-hand accounts given by friends of the murder victims.

CCTV footage from a nearby churchyard showed Saadallah trying to kill “as many people as he could” with the blade, the court heard.

Other clips showed Saadallah withdrawing cash wearing black gloves and chatting with neighbours in the hours leading up to the attack.

Wearing a Union Jack bandana tied around his left knee on his way to carry out the atrocity, he passed by a woman in a wheelchair who he handed a Holy Bible.

Remaining “placid and polite”, the killer said something along the lines of: “Here is something about a better or good life” before setting off for the park.

Saadallah then walked into a takeaway restaurant and bought himself a bottle of water before donating his spare change to Islamic charity boxes by the till.

The court heard when he was later arrested he told officers: “I killed those c**ts, what are you waiting for?”

In vile admissions made to police, Saadallah called the murder victims “wronguns” and said they “deserved” to die.

After initially pretending to have been targeted in a robbery on his way to the station, the alleged terrorist made a series of chilling remarks when he was in custody.

Boasting that he believed he was going to “paradise” for the killings.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said: “As he got to the door to the block of flats, Charmaine Harper and her sister were near to the door, trying to navigate exiting the address with a wheelchair.

“The defendant, who Ms Harper described as placid and polite, handed her the two books that he was carrying: a copy of the Holy Bible and a youth bible.

“As he did, he said something along the lines of ‘Here is something about a better or good life’.

“Knowing what he was about to do, the defendant was passing on his religious texts to another.”

The prosecution argues he planned a terror attack – but Saadallah denies he was motivated by an ideological cause.

Today’s hearing will determine the motivation for his actions and for the judge to decide on the most appropriate legislation under which to sentence the defendant.

Other chilling footage shows the killer greeting police and asking: “I’m not in trouble am I?” while he hid the knife just a day before the attack.

Striking up a friendly conversation during the home visit, an officer can be heard asking: “What’s going on lad?” while the killer stood in front of a bag.

After his brother voiced concerns about his well-being, police went to check up on him at his home in Reading on June 19.

Bodyworn cameras caught Saadallah moving towards a corner of the room and standing in front of the bag which contained the blade as they chatted with him.

The triple killer was heard saying: “I’m not in trouble am I?” A policeman laughed and replied: “No.”

Harrowing witness statements described how one of the victims dropped to the floor “like a tree being felled” and others were slashed in their neck and face.

‘Proud soldier’

Saadallah then cut his own arm with a razor blade after the atrocity in a craven bid to “blend into the crowd” of people he had just stabbed, the court heard.

The court heard Saadallah was a “proud” soldier of a Libyan terrorist cult during the civil war before seeking asylum in the UK.

Photos accessed through Facebook showed the killer posing next to statues and flashing guns dressed in military fatigues, prosecutors claim.

Ms Morgan said: “In less than a minute, shouting the words ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is the greatest’) the defendant carried out a lethal attack with a knife, killing all three men before they had a chance to respond and try to defend themselves.

‘Allahu Akbar’

“Within the same minute, the defendant went on to attack others nearby, stabbing three more people Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan, causing them significant injuries.

“The defendant was ruthlessly efficient in his actions. The Prosecution’s case is that the attack perpetrated by this defendant was carefully planned and executed with determination and precision.

“The defendant believed that in carrying out this attack he was acting in pursuit of his extremist ideology.

“An extremist ideology that he appears to have held for some time. He believed that in killing as many people as possible that day he was performing an act of religious jihad.”

Ms Morgan said the attack was so serious it called for a “whole life tariff” – meaning he must serve his whole sentence without any chance of parole.

Grief-stricken families of the victims were present both in court and via a digital link.

Mr Furlong was the head of history, government and politics at The Holt School in Wokingham.

His parents earlier described their son as “beautiful, intelligent, honest and fun” adding he “will live in our hearts forever”.

Mr Ritchie-Bennett’s father earlier said: “I absolutely love my son with all of my heart and all of my soul.”

While Mr Wails was described as a man who “always made people smile”.
The trial of issue continues.