Reading stabbings: Three dead as police deal with ‘terror incident’ in Reading

Lawrence Wort, 20, a personal trainer from Chippenham, said: ‘So the park was pretty full, a lot of people sat around drinking with friends when one lone person walked through, suddenly shouted some unintelligible words and went around a large group of around 10, trying to stab them.

‘He stabbed three of them, severely in the neck, and under the arms, and then turned and started running towards me, and we turned and started running. When he realised that he couldn’t catch us, he tried to stab another group sat down, he got one person in the back of the neck and then when he realised everyone was starting to run, he ran out the park.’

The organiser of Saturday’s Black Lives Matter protest which took place at the scene of the stabbings, said on Facebook the earlier demonstrations were ‘very peaceful’. Nieema Hassan said: It [the incident] had nothing to do with the protests. Thames Valley Police say the same but residents of Reading are not all reassured. 

Get Reading reports that armed police have raided a flat on the basingstoke Road in Whitley. 

I haven’t been to Reading for nearly 30 years, and that was for the famous music festival. I remember during earlier visits to the prison (for work!) and the university that the town was pleasant, quiet, dull even. But times change, and nowhere is safe any more.