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A criminology student who quizzed his lecturer on how best to get away with killing someone has been found guilty of stabbing physical trainer Amie Gray to death on a beach.
Following a trial Nasen Saadi, 20, from Croydon, south London, was on Wednesday found guilty of the murder of Gray, 34, at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, on 24 May. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Gray’s friend, Leanne Miles, who was with her at the time.
Prosecutors posed that Saadi “wanted to know what it would be like to take life” after he became fascinated with murder, asking his criminology lecturer unrelated questions about self-defence justification for killing and DNA analysis.
Lecturer Dr Lisa-Maria Reiss told the court Saadi had asked questions on “how to get away with murder”.
She said she explained his questions were not relevant to the lecture but there would be police input later in the course and he could save his interest for then. The exchange prompted her to ask Saadi: “You’re not planning a murder are you?” but he didn’t reply.
The jury was shown footage of the fatal attack in which Saadi was seen “loitering” around his two victims before walking onto the sand and attacking them – and also seen running after one of the women in the prolonged incident.
Gray’s wife, Sian Gray thanked police and the emergency services for helping her and bringing “the justice that she deserves”.
“Amie will never be forgotten. She touched the lives of so many. The immense support and love shown by everyone reflects just that,” she said in a statement.
“Amie’s life has been brutally taken but now she can rest in peace. Her strength lives on in all of us.”
Ms Miles, also injured in the attack, told police how she had heard Gray scream “Get off me” from the dark beach before Saadi turned on her.
In a statement read out in court, she said: “I didn’t want to look at him. I couldn’t look at him. And I told him, I said, ‘Please stop’. I said, ‘Please stop, I’ve got children’. And then I think that’s when he started to go, he walked away.”
Benjamin May, a senior crown prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: “This was a senseless attack which shocked the people of Bournemouth – and our deepest condolences remain with Amie Gray’s family.
“Though both victims were chosen at random, Nasen Saadi’s unfathomable desire to carry out a murder was backed up by extensive planning – which included going to great lengths to avoid getting caught.
Home Office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue told the court Gray died as a result of 10 knife wounds, including one to the heart, while Ms Miles suffered 20 knife-related injuries.
The court heard Saadi was “fascinated” with knives and had bought six blades online, 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 previous, highly publicised killings.
The court was told Saadi had booked accommodation for a four-night stay in Bournemouth starting 21 May, and was seen on CCTV scouting the seafront and the scene of the murder, which happened at about 11.40pm on 24 May.
Suggesting a motive for the attack, prosecutor Sarah Jones KC 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 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 an interview that he might have “blacked out” and had no memory of the period that included the attacks.
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