A 20-year-old criminology student with a fascination for knives has been found guilty of stabbing a woman to death on a Dorset beach after spending months plotting the attack and quizzing university lecturers about how a killer would get away with murder.
Nasen Saadi, who became obsessed with notorious crimes, repeatedly stabbed Amie Gray and her friend Leanne Miles on Bournemouth beach on a night in May. Gray, 34, a sports coach and a mother, was killed after a blade penetrated her heart.
The trial heard Saadi had done his own research on how police investigated murders and kitted himself up with latex gloves, a balaclava, wet wipes and nail clippers to try to avoid being traced.
He hid his weapon and disposed of all the clothes he was wearing, leaving no traces of DNA or fingerprints at the scene. Saadi refused to give police the passcode to his phone, stopping them from using technology to pinpoint him on the beach, but Dorset detectives built a strong circumstantial case that convinced the jury he was the murderer.
In the lead-up to the attack, Saadi bought six knives including a machete and a hunting knife and repeatedly searched for details of murders including those of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey in Cheshire, 13-year-old Milly Dowler from Surrey and of the Miyazawa family in Setagaya in Tokyo. His online pseudonyms included “Ninja Killer” and “NSKills”.
Saadi, who is from a close, successful family who live in suburban south London, had no previous convictions and the prosecution suggested he had carried out the killing because he wanted to achieve notoriety as the star of a real-life crime drama he had directed.
It can now be reported that he harboured strong misogynistic views, repeatedly telling fellow students at the University of Greenwich that women were weaker than men and should not work in certain jobs.
It can also now be reported that he may have taken sexual pleasure in the killing. While he was being held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London, awaiting trial, he asked a female officer if the killing was making headlines and then masturbated in front of her.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, told Saadi: “You have been convicted of the most serious of crimes.” She said he would be jailed for life with a minimum term of “considerable length”.
She said: “He is a young man, I think 21 years next week. He is a young man who may have autistic spectrum disorder.”
The judge said she would seek information from a neurodevelopment specialist before sentencing. The judge added: “It seems to me it is my duty to find out as much as I can about him.” Sentencing was adjourned until 28 March.
As the verdicts were delivered, Saadi hung his head and did not show any emotion.
Gray and Miles had been enjoying a night-time picnic and bonfire on the beach in May when Saadi attacked them. He stabbed Gray 10 times and Miles 20 times. Miles, 39, believes Gray saved her life by deliberately bearing the brunt of the attack.
Amie Gray’s wife, Sian Gray, said: “Amie will never be forgotten. She touched the lives of so many. The immense support and love shown by everyone reflects just that. Amie’s life has been brutally taken but now she can rest in peace. Her strength lives on in all of us.”
Saadi admitted to police he had been in Bournemouth and conceded he was interested in unsolved motiveless crimes but he denied carrying out the stabbing and said he had no memory of the time of the attack, claiming he may have blacked out.
When he was interviewed, he said: “I am wrongly accused of mistaken identity.” He declined to give evidence in court.
Saadi was convicted after experts in gait and CCTV said a blurry figure captured on camera at the beach was him. One witness, an amateur photographer taking pictures of the moon, also identified him.
In her closing speech, Sarah Jones KC said: “He wanted the notoriety a killing of this sort might bring him … wanted to be the star from a true crime episode in a motiveless killing he designed himself.”
Benjamin May, a senior crown prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: “This was a senseless attack, which shocked the people of Bournemouth.”
A University of Greenwich spokesperson said: “We worked with Dorset police to help their investigation and are grateful to members of our community who provided evidence. We will continue to support our university staff and students.”
