An Islamic extremist has been found guilty of murdering a passer-by in the street.
Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney multiple times in Hartlepool in October.
He later told police it was in protest against Israel and the Gaza conflict.
Alid was found guilty of murder and the attempted murder of his housemate, whom he had attacked before the fatal stabbing of Mr Carney.
He will be sentenced on 17 May at Teesside Crown Court.
‘Extreme interpretation’
Alid, who spoke through an Arabic translator during the trial, had admitted stabbing the two men but denied he had intended to kill or cause really serious harm.
The court had heard he arrived in the UK illegally in 2020 and lived with three other asylum seekers at a house on Hartlepool’s Wharton Terrace.
Prosecutors said Alid followed an “extreme interpretation of Islam” and had issues with his housemate, Iranian-national Javed Nouri, 31, who had converted to Christianity.
At about 05:00 BST on 15 October, Alid forced his way into Mr Nouri’s room and stabbed him multiple times with a kitchen knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is greatest”.
After Mr Nouri fought him off, Alid fled into the street and came across Mr Carney, who was out for a regular early morning walk on nearby Raby Road.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Alid confronting Mr Carney, chasing him a short distance and stabbing him six times, while the 70-year-old repeatedly shouted “no”.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said it was not a “frenzied attack” but “considered”, as Alid circled Mr Carney and stabbed him, with one wound fatally penetrating his heart.
Police responding to a 999 call about the Wharton Terrace attack found Mr Carney lying in the street, where he was pronounced dead.
Alid was arrested by armed police a short distance away.
In his 87-minute long police interview, Alid, who believed he had killed Mr Nouri, said the “whole issue” was the “independence of Palestine” and “to have two dead victims [was] better than more”, adding Israel had “killed a lot of children” so he “killed two old people”.
He said Mr Carney was a “poor” and “innocent” man who had “committed no faults”, but he was killed because Britain had “created” Israel and “should make it leave”.
Lunged at police
Alid also told officers he would have killed more people if he had not injured his hand while stabbing Mr Nouri, and would have slain “thousands” if he had a machine gun.
When questioned about his interview in court, Alid denied he had made such comments and blamed the Tunisian interpreter helping him in the interview.
At the end of his interview at Middlesbrough Police Station, Alid verbally abused the Tunisian interpreter and then lunged at the two female detectives questioning him.
The court heard a panic button was pressed multiple times but was not working, and Alid’s solicitor who was also in the room called 999 to say they were “stuck in a room with a terror suspect”.
Other officers, who were monitoring the interview from a different room, ran in and restrained Alid.
Jurors also found him guilty of two counts of assaulting emergency workers.
‘Fear and distress’
The trial heard Mr Nouri had complained to housing managers and the police about Alid, who had taken to carrying a knife and was making regular threats.
Two days before the attacks, a Cleveland Police officer said no crime had been committed so no further action was taken.
The court heard Alid was a patisserie chef who ran a coffee and pastry shop in Algeria but left in 2007, moving around Europe before arriving in the UK illegally in 2020 via a ferry from Amsterdam.
His asylum claim had still not been processed at the time of the attack.
Following the verdict, Cleveland Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said the stabbings “shook the local community to its core”.
She said: “Alid’s actions not only left a family devastated, but also caused significant fear and distress amongst residents in Hartlepool and beyond.”
Follow BBC Tees on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.