Killer extremist drifted round Europe for years

Morocco-born Ahmed Alid came to the UK to seek asylum after drifting around Europe for more than a decade. But having been found guilty of crimes including murder and attempted murder – prompted, he said, by the war in Gaza – his journey ended in a courtroom in Middlesbrough.

Last October, in a fit of rage and armed with a kitchen knife, the former pastry chef and shop owner attacked fellow asylum seeker Javed Nouri at the Hartlepool home they shared.

When a badly injured Mr Nouri fought him off, Alid fled the house and fatally stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney, a passer-by Alid himself described as a “poor” and “innocent” man who had “committed no faults”.

The killer told his trial at Teesside Crown Court about his life leading up to his arrival in the UK.

Intelligence services
The 45-year-old was born in Fez, Morocco, but raised in Algeria where his grandfather had a business.

He left North Africa in 2007, telling jurors via an Arabic interpreter how his shop had been monitored by the intelligence services who were “harassing” him.

He arrived in Spain and moved around the continent for years, spending time in France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Austria, never gaining asylum.

Alid spent just days or weeks in some countries, but years in Germany where he was briefly jailed for entering the country without a passport or visa, but never achieved his aim of opening a shop.

He tried to marry a German woman but had lost his passport in Greece, he told the court, so the marriage could not go through.

Then, late in 2020, he took a ferry from Amsterdam to Middlesbrough.

‘No answer’
He was arrested as he did not have the correct papers, but he applied for asylum.

Asked by John Elvidge KC, his defence counsel, if that was successful, Alid said: “I didn’t have any answer.”

His asylum status was still being processed at the time of the murder, it was understood.

He was permitted to work four hours a week, but that did not lead to him getting a job and he was often seen jogging around Hartlepool to keep fit.

Alid was a devout Muslim and prayed five times a day at home, but did not attend a local mosque.

He did, however, regularly clash with other asylum seekers living at the Home Office-approved accommodation in Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool.

These included arguments about his cleanliness and them leaving alcohol in the communal fridge, which he said was against his religious beliefs.

‘Terrible and frightening’
In the days leading up to Mr Carney’s murder, Alid’s housemates grew concerned about his reaction to the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.

Mr Nouri later told police: “He was sitting on the kitchen chair and checking the news on his mobile phone.

“He was laughing and every time they would kill somebody, he would praise God.

“I was very upset from that night and I have seen something terrible and frightening in his eyes.”

After his arrest, Alid told police he had launched his attacks in protest against Israel and the Gaza conflict.

He said he would have killed more people if he had not injured his hand while stabbing Mr Carney; “thousands” if he had a machine gun.

Remanded in custody, he will be sentenced on 17 May at Teesside Crown Court.

Source » bbc.com