Reading stabbing terrorist Khairi Saadallah to appeal his jail sentence

A man who murdered three men as they sat in a park in Reading has launched an appeal against his sentence.

Khairi Saadallah was jailed in January for the brutal attack in Forbury Gardens on June 20, 2020, where James Furlong, 36, David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, all died after being stabbed.

Saadallah, 26, attacked the three men and injured three others before he threw away the knife and ran off, chased by an off-duty police officer.

He was arrested shortly afterwards.

The court heard how Saadallah meticulously planned the attack and had researched the location, as well as buying the knife from Morrisons.

He admitted three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder after the incident.

He was given a rare whole life term for the attacks, which means he is unlikely to ever be released from prison.

However, he is now challenging that ruling, with a hearing due at London’s Court of Appeal on Thursday, October 14.

In sentencing in January, Mr Justice Sweeney said: “His attack on them was so swift, ruthless and brutal that none of them had any chance to react, let alone to defend themselves.

“Using his combat experience in each of their cases the defendant targeted a vulnerable area where a single thrust of the knife would, as he intended, inevitably cause death.”

During the course of the attack and afterwards and because he was seeking to advance a political, religious or ideological cause, the defendant was shouting in Arabic, ‘God is the greatest’ and ‘God accept my jihad’.”

The judge rejected the defence’s claim Saadallah was suffering from mental illness at the time of the attack.

Source: Get Reading