Criminology scholar ‘butchered’ private coach at random on Bournemouth seashore to seek out out what it was prefer to kill after asking his lecturers the way to get away with homicide, courtroom hears
A criminology student researched methods of murder before ‘butchering’ a personal trainer at random on a beach because he wanted to know how it felt to take a life, a court has been told.
Nasen Saadi, from Croydon in south London, is accused of murdering Amie Gray on Bournemouth beach by stabbing her to death and seriously injuring her friend in a ‘savage and random’ attack.
Saadi, 20, has gone on trial charged with the murder of the 34-year-old physical trainer at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, on May 24, as well as the attempted murder of Leanne Miles at the same location.
Amie’s wife Sian attended today’s proceedings at Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire and watched from the public gallery.
Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, today told jurors that, while the defendant was studying for a degree in criminology at Greenwich University in south-east London, he had asked his lecturers a series of questions about getting away with murder.
She said one of them then felt prompted to ask him: ‘You’re not planning a murder, are you?’
The prosecutor said that Ms Gray and Ms Miles had been chatting next to a fire to keep warm on the Dorset beach under a full moon when they were targeted by Saadi.
She said: ‘Nasen Saadi, as he walked along that promenade and thought about the culmination of a plan he had worked on for who knows how long but which he had spent the last couple of nights walking through and researching.
Amie Gray (pictured) died after being stabbed on Durley Chine Beach, Bournemouth, at about 11.45pm on May 24 this year – a man has now gone on trial charged with murdering her
Nasen Saadi, from Croydon in south London, has been accused of murdering Amie Gray on Bournemouth beach – a court artist sketch depicts him at Winchester Crown Court last week
Amie Gray (left) is pictured here with her wife Sian (right) in a photo provided by Dorset Police
Sian Gray, wife of Amie Gray, is pictured outside Winchester Crown Court – she attended today’s court proceedings, watching from the public gallery
‘Nothing fine or glorious in his plans, I’m afraid – nothing of self-improvement or to benefit anyone else.
‘This defendant seems to have wanted to know what it would be like to take life – perhaps he wanted to know what it would be like to make women feel afraid, perhaps he thought it would make him feel powerful, make him interesting to others.
‘Perhaps he just couldn’t bear to see people engaged in a happy normal social interaction and he decided to lash out, to hurt, to butcher.’
Ms Jones added: ‘With purpose, slowly, stealthily and quietly, when he thought no-one would observe him, he hovered at the edges of the promenade, then stepped on to the sand, and walked directly towards the two women with a knife in his hand.
‘In an act horrifying in its savagery and in its randomness he stabbed them both multiple times, chasing after them as they tried to escape or divert him from the other and he continued his attack.
‘He left them on the sand to bleed to death whilst he moved away and tried to disappear back into the shadows, away from the glare of the streetlights or the moonlight and back into anonymity.
‘He got rid of his weapon. He changed his clothes and shoes and got rid of them.’
Ms Jones said that during his university lectures, Saadi would ask questions not related to the subject of the talk.
Dorset Police issued this family picture of Amie Gray, 34, from Poole, who was killed on Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade in Bournemouth, on May 24 this year
These included raising queries about self-defence justification for murder, DNA analysis and other forensic evidence, the prosecutor told the court.
She added that a lecturer ‘explained his questions were not relevant to the lecture but there would be police input later in the course and he could save his interest for then.
The lecturer was said to have then followed up with, ‘You’re not planning a murder, are you?’ – to which Saadi did not reply, jurors heard.
Ms Jones said Saadi also did online research about knives which he then bought, and looked into the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey in Warrington, Cheshire, and her killers.
She added: ‘In March he researched, “why is it harder for a killer to be caught if he does it in another town”, the merits of one weapon over another, swords or daggers over knives, or “which is the deadliest knife”.’
Ms Jones said Saadi also researched Bournemouth beach and how many people visited and whether it was open at night, as well as about which hotels accepted cash payment and did not have CCTV cameras.
The prosecutor told the court he booked a stay at a Travelodge hotel from May 21 but also the nearby Silver How guest house into which he booked on May 23.
She added that on the previous evening, Saadi had gone to see the movie The Strangers: Chapter 1, which the prosecutor called a ‘slasher home invasion movie’.
A court artist sketch from June 4 this year of Nasen Saadi who has been charged with murdering Amie Gray, which he denies
Describing the plot, she said: ‘The male and female leads are both stabbed – the male dies and the female survives.
‘It suggests, doesn’t it, that the defendant gravitated to what he likes to watch or sought inspiration or encouragement from what he saw?’
Ms Jones said that on each of the evenings he stayed in Bournemouth, Saadi walked at night along the promenade to Durley Chine for what she described as a ‘recce’ of the area.
She told how Ms Miles described the incident to police while in hospital and said Ms Gray had attempted to escape their attacker who then returned to stab her.
The court heard that Ms Miles said: ‘I ran to the top of the promenade, and I could hear Amie saying, “Get off me”.
‘I couldn’t see her because she was down by the beach where it was dark.
‘I think the guy must have chased back up to the promenade. I couldn’t see anybody – there wasn’t, there was nobody around.
‘And he came back on to me, and he was continuously stabbing me, and I told him to stop. I kept turning my back to him, so all my injuries are on one side of my back.’
Floral tributes to Amie Gray were left on Bournemouth beach following her death on May 24
She also said: ‘I didn’t want to look at him. I couldn’t look at him. And I told him, I said, “Please stop”. I said, “Please stop, I’ve got children”. And then I think that’s when he started to go, he walked away.’
Ms Jones said that analysis of CCTV footage, capturing the attack, had led to the identification of the defendant and a positive ID was made by a photographer named Michael Priddle who had been in the area at the time.
Ms Jones said that after Saadi was arrested, he initially declined to answer questions but went on to say that he had an interest in true crime and enjoyed horror movies.
She said that he then admitted he had visited Bournemouth but would not give details of his whereabouts at the time of the killing, while saying he might have suffered a ‘blackout’ or ‘been affected because he had been drinking’.
Ms Jones added: ‘The footage of the attack was played and he stated simply, “That’s not me”. He said he had no reason to attack someone for no reason and he wouldn’t attack anyone for no reason.’
The prosecutor added that a search of the defendant’s home by police found a number of knives, which showed his ‘fascination’ with them, as well as latex gloves, a torch and a black balaclava.
Saadi, who has pleaded guilty to failing to provide his mobile phone code to police, denies the charges of murder and attempted murder. The trial continues.
