A criminology student who killed a stranger in a random attack on a beach was accused of stalking three months before the murder, it can now be revealed.
Nasen Saadi, described by his grandfather as a “clever young man”, was convicted of fatally stabbing Amie Gray, 34, following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.
The 20-year-old was “inspired” by infamous high-profile stabbings and had made “provocative statements” to female students on his course at Greenwich University, including telling one that “women were weaker than men”.
Saadi, who is of Iraqi-Thai heritage and moved to the UK when he was four, killed physical trainer Gray and attempted to murder her friend Leanne Miles, 38, in Bournemouth on May 24 this year.
Amie Gray was stabbed 10 times by Nasan Saadi in May 24 last year – FACEBOOK
The two women were sitting on the sand on Durley Chine beach at night when Saadi, who had been prowling the promenade looking for victims, approached them and began a frenzied attack.
Ms Miles said he only fled after she begged him to spare her life, saying: “Please stop, I’ve got children.”
Three months before the attack, an allegation of stalking was made against Saadi. The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the police watchdog as a result.
The prosecution said CCTV showed Nasen Saadi ‘loitering’ behind Amie Gray and Leanne Miles – Crown Prosecution Service
It can now be revealed that while in custody, Saadi asked a female prison officer how much press attention his case was getting before touching himself in his cell. A male officer was also said to have witnessed the incident.
Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC tried to persuade the judge that the jury should hear this evidence as it shows a motive for Saadi for carrying out the stabbing, namely excitement and press attention.
Charlie Sherrard KC, defending, explained that Saadi was on a 24-hour watch at the time for safety reasons and claimed it was normal for a male prisoner in his position to do that in his cell.
The judge ruled in favour of the defence, not allowing the prison officer’s evidence to be heard by the jury, saying the evidence was “more prejudicial than probative” and it did not help the prosecution prove his motive.
Dr Lisa-Marie Reiss, Saadi’s lecturer at Greenwich University, provided a statement to the court in which she said he would make controversial remarks during seminars relating to “women being weaker than men” and how “they shouldn’t work in certain jobs”.
She said Saadi would “repeatedly make very provocative statements” during lessons and this had “upset” his course mates.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that quietly spoken Saadi, who declined to give evidence, carried out the killing because he “wanted to know what it felt like to take a life”.
Ms Jones said: “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.”
Court sketch of Nasen Saadi during his trial at Winchester Crown Court – ELIZABETH COOK/PA
She said he wanted the “notoriety a killing of this sort might bring him” and dreamed of being the “star of a true crime episode”.
The trial heard Saadi had asked his lecturer multiple questions about the criminal defence to murder that she had asked him: “You’re not planning a murder, are you?”
When he was arrested Saadi was living with his grandfather and aunt at their detached home in the quiet suburb of Purley, South London. He attended Selsdon Primary School before going on to Riddlesdown Collegiate.
A fellow student described him as quiet but “seemingly harmless”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Saadi’s grandfather said the house was raided by armed officers with submachine guns four days after the murder.
He said: “Nasen was just sitting upstairs calmly in his room when they broke the door down and entered. I was sitting in the living room. Nasen had been living here ever since he left university.”
Plotting and preparing for months
Saadi’s grandfather, who refused to give his name, said he “knows his grandson is innocent”.
He said: “It is unfortunate because he joined a criminology course and when he, as a clever young man, tried to ask questions on the course, that has ended up being used as evidence against him.
“Basically, it is the only evidence against him.They don’t have any direct evidence. You have to ask your lecturer questions and now it is being turned against him.
“They had nothing on the weapons he is supposed to have used, there is no DNA or even CCTV.”
He added: “He is a clever boy, he is not naive, he thinks about things deeply, he plans them carefully, he works out what he is going to do, he is not stupid.”
The court heard Saadi had been plotting and preparing for the murder for months. Prosecutors said he had gone to “extraordinary” lengths to ensure there was no DNA evidence.
His grandfather claimed that before the murder, Saadi told him he wanted to go to Bournemouth for a holiday to “prove his independence” and swim in the sea.
Saadi checked into a Travelodge hotel in Bournemouth city centre at 3:09pm, on May 21 this year.
On his first night in the city he carried out a “recce” of the promenade where he would go on to stab Gray three days later.
Social struggles
He said that his grandson, who stabbed Gray 10 times, was so “gentle” he “couldn’t even crack an egg” if he was asked to.
This grandfather said Saadi wanted to go on holiday by himself as he didn’t really have any friends and “didn’t mix socially”. Neighbours said they rarely saw Saadi but knew the rest of the family well.
He said that Saadi was born in Thailand and came to the UK with his mother and father, who now run a fruit importation business, when he was four years old.
The Telegraph tried to approach his parents at their home in Purley but were told “no comment, nothing to say”.
Despite his grandfather’s claims, the trial heard that Saadi’s parents had been forced to hide two knives and an axe from him prior to the stabbing.
Saadi had taken an interest in “deliberately offensive-looking weapons” in the months preceding the murder and had purchased several knives from online retailers Saadi refused to provide detectives with the pin number for his phone and accepted a charge of failing to comply with a notice requirement disclosure.
His grandfather said Saadi was struggling in prison, adding: “He tells me he can’t sleep due to the noise of the other prisoners who are crying, shouting, fighting.
“He has basically stopped speaking. He said to his father “I don’t understand why they think it is me.”
Police in Bournemouth cordon off an area of the beach on May 27, following Amie Gray’s murder – Christopher Pledger/The Telegraph
But a woman who was on the beach at the time and saw Saadi minutes before he launched his assault said she felt a sense of “dread” that she could have been his victim.
Speaking to The Telegraph anonymously, she said she and her friend had been walking along the promenade when she saw Saadi lurking in the shadows walking back and forth.
She said that he kept looking at them, which prompted her to shout at him loudly.
“At the time, we didn’t think he would do anything harmful; we just thought he was odd,” she said.
The woman, a student, said there was a “strange atmosphere” on the beach that night.
She continued: “[We] decided to leave as there was an uneasy feeling, and it was getting late.
“It wasn’t until we heard about what had happened to Ms. Gray that we started to feel a bit frightened.”
Sian Grey, right, has attended every day of the trial following the murder of her wife, Aime – Gray family
When the news of Gray’s death broke the next day the two women went to the police after seeing an appeal for witnesses.
She said that hearing all the details of Saadi’s obsession with murder had made the situation “feel even more real”.
Jurors convicted him after just XX minutes deliberation.
Sian Gray, the victim’s partner, watched proceedings from the public gallery throughout the trial.