Asylum seeker inspired by ‘revenge’ for Israel-Hamas war guilty of murdering pensioner

From the Telegraph

A Moroccan migrant who had been in the asylum system for more than three years has been found guilty of murdering a pensioner in Hartlepool in “revenge” for Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney to death in the street in a random attack just days after the Oct 7 Hamas terror attacks.

Minutes earlier, he had stabbed and wounded Javed Nouri, a housemate and fellow asylum seeker, shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he repeatedly knifed the Christian convert.

Alid, a devout Muslim, was born in Fez and raised in Algeria. He came to Britain in 2020 after spending more than a decade drifting through Europe.

Mr Nouri, who survived the knife attack on him, later told police how Alid had revelled in the horrors committed by Hamas, saying: “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.”

Two days later, Mr Nouri attended Hartlepool police station to alert police to his concerns, making an appointment to speak with an officer the following week.

He met officers, along with a translator, on Oct 13 and warned them about Alid’s behaviour, mentioning that he had been carrying a knife in the kitchen of the house. But as no specific threats were reported at that time, the housing manager agreed to talk to Alid and warn him that he would be evicted if there was any repeat.

The role of Cleveland Police was investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who cleared the force of any wrongdoing.

The trial heard that on Oct 15, Alid broke into the bedroom of his housemate and attacked him while he slept. He then ran out into the street and, after coming across Mr Carney, who was on an early morning walk, repeatedly stabbed him.

Following his arrest, and while in a holding cell at Middlesbrough police station, Alid launched into a speech in Arabic saying that “Allah willing, Gaza would return to be an Arab country”.

During a subsequent police interview, he told officers he had launched his attack because “Israel had killed innocent children”.

Alid admitted Mr Carney had been “innocent”, but justified the attack by saying Britain had created the “Zionist entity” of Israel and should make them leave Gaza, adding: “They killed children and I killed an old man.”

He will be sentenced on 17 May at Teesside Crown Court. It was a terrorist murder; I hope it will be called that during sentencing and not fudged as ‘individual of insecure health with a grudge’.