A true crime obsessive who dubbed himself ‘Ninja killer’ has been found guilty of murdering a physical trainer in a late-night attack on a beach. Nasen Saadi killed Amie Gray while she and pal Leanne Miles chatted next to a small fire on the shorefront as the pair tried to keep warm.
He also attacked Ms Miles, inflicting 20 knife injuries on her, as he also tried to kill the 39-year-old. The jury was shown footage of the attack. The clip showed him ‘loitering’ near his victims before walking onto the sand and attacking them, and chasing after one of his victims during the frenzied incident.
The Mirror reports an audio recording of the Bournemouth seafront attack, which included extended screams from the victims, was also played to the jurors at Winchester Crown Court. Home Office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue told the court Ms Gray died as a result of 10 knife wounds in the incident in May, including one to the heart, while Ms Miles suffered 20 knife injuries.
The court heard Saadi was “fascinated” with knives and had bought six blades from websites, with several found at his aunt’s house where he was living as well as at his parents’ home. Saadi used the name “Ninja Killer” for his Snapchat account and also used the username “NSkills” on his computer.
The student at Greenwich University, who was studying for a degree in criminology and criminal psychology after dropping out of a physical education course, had carried out searches about the Milly Dowler and Brianna Ghey killings. Lecturer Dr Lisa-Maria Reiss told the court Saadi had asked questions on “how to get away with murder”.
This had led her to ask him: “You’re not planning a murder are you?” The court was told Saadi had booked two hotels for a four-night stay in Bournemouth starting May 21 and was shown on CCTV carrying out “recces” of the seafront and the scene of the murder, which happened at about 11.40pm on May 24.
During his stay at the Dorset resort, the defendant, who is a fan of horror movies, went to the cinema to see “slasher” movie The Strangers – Chapter 1. Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, said: “This defendant 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.” The defendant, who chose not to give evidence, admitted visiting Bournemouth.
But he denied the offences and had claimed not to be the man shown in the CCTV footage, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity. He told police in interview that he might have “blacked out” and had no memory of the period that included the attacks. But he pleaded guilty to failing to provide his mobile phone’s pin code to police.
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