The terrorist who murdered Sir David Amess was “cool, calm and collected” while carrying out his brutal plans, from the moments before the murder, through police interviews and even while giving evidence at his own trial.
Ali Harbi Ali cut a cold and measured figure, giving graphic and harrowing details about how and why he stabbed the Conservative MP to death without emotion.
During hours of police interviews following the terror attack on 15 October, Ali chuckled at points and seemed completely relaxed while recounting years of preparations to murder MPs who had voted for airstrikes against Isis.
The terrorist, who at one point was on course to become a doctor, appeared completely detached as he discussed stabbing Sir David multiple times and aiming for specific blood vessels.
“He just kept on saying, ‘No, no, no, no…’ constantly,” he said. “I had his blood in my fingernails, like, for hours … it’s weird. Obviously I’ve killed someone, there’s no doubt about that, but it still doesn’t really feel like it. Maybe it’s because I feel justified in what I’ve done, y’know?”
One of Sir David’s aides had told the court that even moments before the murder, Ali appeared “relaxed and nice”, and had been chatty and smiling at the start of the constituency surgery appointment he booked to carry out the attack.
He toyed with his victim, falsely claiming to be settling in the Southend area and asking Sir David “what he could do for the town”, forcing the longstanding MP to explain he had been in office for decades.
The court heard that Sir David was suspicious that Ali was recording, having been once been spoofed by Brass Eye, and explained that the purpose of the surgery was to discuss particular problems and not politics in general.
Ali then started talking about the Iraq war and his phone started ringing, at which point he stood up, said “sorry”, produced a large knife and launched the attack.
Witnesses described how in the moments after the murder, as Ali still held his bloody knife, he had a look of “self-satisfaction” and “wasn’t remorseful”.
Ali told police that as he was being taken away from Belfairs Methodist Church by police he heard a staff member saying “aww, he seemed like such a nice boy”, adding: “Imagine how weird it was for them.”
On his arrival in custody, he told a police officer how to spell Sir David’s name and that the nature of the crime was “terror”.
He later mused to officers: “I think the definition there probably correlates with that. Well, maybe actually it doesn’t because I don’t know if it was an act to influence politicians or intimidate the public. I guess we’ll get onto it later on.”
The lengthy interview saw Ali launch into soliloquies on his view of the Syrian civil war, Isis, the nature of jihad and martyrdom.
He repeatedly claimed the murder of Sir David was justified, telling officers: “If I didn’t believe it was a good deed, I wouldn’t do it.”
Ali calmly described how he had been intending to be “martyred” after being shot by armed police, but dropped the knife after realising the officers who responded did not have guns.
“Should I have just carried on going to them regardless of whether they had guns or not?” he wondered.
Despite admitting his actions and intentions in the interviews, Ali pleaded not guilty to murder and preparing acts of terrorism, forcing a trial where he could give evidence at the Old Bailey.
At points he took on the tone of an expert giving evidence in the witness box, telling the jury about the sequence of events in the Arab Spring and describing the meaning of different Arabic terms.
Asked by prosecutor Tom Little QC if he regretted anything he did, he replied “nothing” and said that Sir David deserved to die.
When asked if he was “utterly shameless”, Ali replied: “I wouldn’t use the word shameless but I don’t feel any shame.”
In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Little described him as “cool, calm and collected” following the murder.
“He was also cool, calm and collected in evidence - relaxed,” he added.
“He was able to trade blows with me in evidence, he was even able to play with words.”
Mr Little said Ali had maintained the “same grin, the same smile” described vividly by witnesses on the day of the nurder in the witness box.
He added: “He was smiling and almost enjoying reliving and explaining what he intended to do and what he had done - revelling in his terrorist acts.”
