A criminology student researched murder methods before “butchering” a woman on a beach in a “savage and random” attack, a court heard.
Nasen Saadi, 20, is accused of killing 34-year-old physical trainer Amie Gray and attempting to kill Leanne Miles on May 24 this year.
On the first day of the trial at Winchester Crown Court, jurors were told that Mr Saadi “wanted to know what it felt like to take a life”.
Opening the prosecution case, Sarah Jones KC, said that before the killing, Saadi, who was studying for a degree in criminology in Greenwich, asked his lecturers so many questions one asked him: “You’re not planning a murder are you?”
Ms Jones said that Ms Gray and Ms Miles had been chatting next to a fire to keep warm on Durley Chine beach in Bournemouth when they were targeted by Mr Saadi.
Amie Gray, a 34-year-old physical trainer, left, with her wife, Sian – PA
She said: “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.
“Nothing fine or glorious in his plans, I’m afraid, nothing of self-improvement or to benefit anyone else.
“[He] 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 Gray, pictured, and Leanne Miles had been chatting next to a fire to keep warm, the court heard – Dorset Police/PA
She said that “when he thought no one would observe him” he crept with “purpose, slowly, stealthily and quietly” towards the two women, who were sitting on the sand, 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.”
Ms Jones said that after the attack, Mr Saadi, who lives in Croydon, got rid of the weapon, changed his clothes and shoes and disposed of them.
Durley Chine beach in Bournemouth, the site of the attack – Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe
She said that during his university lectures, Mr Saadi would ask questions not related to the subject of the talk, including on self-defence justification for murder, DNA analysis and other forensic evidence.
She said the lecturer “explained his questions were not relevant to the lecture but there would be police input later in the course”.
She added: “The lecturer told him he could save his interest for then and then she queried ‘You’re not planning a murder are you?’ but he didn’t reply”.
Ms Jones said that Mr Saadi also carried out online research about knives which he then bought, and also looked up the murder of Brianna Ghey 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’.”
A floral tribute left at Durley Chine beach in Bournemouth in May after the attack – Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe
Ms Jones said that Mr Saadi also researched Bournemouth beach, how many people visited and whether it was open at night.
He also looked at which hotels accepted cash payment and did not have CCTV cameras.
Ms Jones said that Mr Saadi booked a stay at a Travelodge hotel from May 21 but also the nearby Silver How guest house, which he booked into on May 23.
Ms Jones said that on each of the evenings that he stayed in Bournemouth, Mr Saadi walked at night along the promenade to Durley Chine for what she described as a “recce” of the area.
Mr Saadi, who has pleaded guilty to failing to provide his mobile phone code to police, denies the murder and attempted murder and the trial continues.