The veteran Conservative MP Sir David Amess was assassinated by a “radicalised Islamist terrorist” who also targeted Michael Gove, a court has heard.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, tricked his way into meeting 69-year-old Sir David at a church before stabbing him to death in a “vicious and frenzied attack” last October, jurors have been told.
Ali is also accused of carrying out reconnaissance on communities and levelling up secretary Michael Gove and Tory MP Mike Freer. In addition, the court heard that the defendant conducted internet research on deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, defence secretary Ben Wallace and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Ali is accused of murdering the Southend West MP at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on 15 October 2021. Jurors were played body-worn camera footage showing a tense confrontation between Ali and two plainclothes police officers who apprehended him.
The court heard how a post-mortem showed Sir David suffered 21 stab wounds to his face, arms, legs and torso, as well as injuries to both hands that were consistent with defending himself. The court was told that after the attack, Ali was heard on the phone saying: “I’ve done it because of Syria. I’ve done it because of the innocent people. I’ve done it because of the bombing. He deserved to die.”
Opening the case for the prosecution at the Old Bailey on Monday, Tom Little QC, said: “This was nothing less than an assassination for terrorist purposes. It is a crime to which, we say, he has no defence.”
Mr Little said: “This is a case involving a cold and calculated murder, a murder carried out in a place of worship.
“A murder carried out because of a warped and twisted and violent ideology. It was a murder carried out by that young man [Ali] who for many years had been planning just such an attack and who was, and is, a committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist.”
The attack was “no spur-of-the-moment decision”, Mr Little said, telling jurors that Ali bought the knife used to attack Sir David five years earlier.
“He had for a number of years been determined to carry out an act of domestic terrorism,” the prosecutor said. “To that end, from at least May 2019 he researched and planned potential attacks on members of parliament and the houses of parliament.
“This included specific reconnaissance trips to a constituency surgery of Mike Freer MP and to the home address of Michael Gove MP. That researching and planning is the other offence he faces, namely preparing for acts of terrorism. To that offence he also has, we say, no defence.”
The court heard that Ali had lied when he emailed to request an appointment with Sir David, claiming he was moving into the area and providing a postcode.
Mr Little told jurors that Ali appeared “relaxed and chatty” as he walked over to Sir David just before he “brutally” stabbed him shortly after midday on 15 October.
During the meeting, the defendant’s mobile made a sound, Ali said “sorry”, then he pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed Sir David in a “vicious and frenzied attack”, Mr Little said.
Two people arriving for the next appointment heard the MP’s aides shouting: “Help me. He’s been stabbed. There’s a man with a knife.”
Meanwhile, Ali waved a bloody knife around and said: “I killed him, I killed him.”
Sir David was lying unconscious and the defendant warned: “Don’t come anywhere near me. I will stab you.”
The pair offered to go and see Sir David but Ali told them: “No, don’t come nearer. I’ll go and finish him off if he’s not dead.”
The defendant declared: “I want him dead. I want every parliament minister [sic] who signed up for the bombing of Syria, who agreed to the Iraqi war, to die.”
The defendant was then heard on the phone saying: “I’ve done it because of Syria. I’ve done it because of the innocent people. I’ve done it because of the bombing. He deserved to die.”
During a confrontation, Ali refused to drop his knife, saying: “I want to be shot.”
He added: “I’m going to die. I want to die, I want to be a hero.”
Mr Little said that around the time of the murder, the defendant sent a long message to friends and family with a video relating to Raqqa in Syria.
Mr Little said two plainclothes officers, PC Scott James and PC Ryan Curtis, arrived at the scene armed only with a baton and incapacitant spray, and “bravely decided” to enter the building after hearing of Sir David’s injuries.
The court was played body-worn camera footage showing the police officers in a tense confrontation with the armed man. Ali, seen in the aisle of the church, was told: “It’s only going to go one way, please drop that knife.” The officers then managed to pin Ali to the floor and arrest him.
After his arrest, Ali explained how he had been self-radicalised between 2014 and 2015, the court heard. By 2021, he had allegedly decided to carry out an attack on home turf and focused on some of the 523 MPs who voted on airstrikes in Syria.
He went to the houses of parliament for reconnaissance seven times but found police there were “armed to the teeth”, jurors were told.
Ali visited Tory MP Mike Freer’s surgery in Finchley, north London, as well as looking at photographs of Mr Gove’s home in west London, the court heard.
Mr Little said: “He decided against attacking Mr Gove as he learned Mr Gove had split up from his wife and the house had got sold.”
The prosecutor said Ali considered “bumping into” the minister “while he was out jogging”.
On 21 September last year, the Wikipedia page for Mr Wallace was allegedly searched. The following day, Ali searched Wikipedia pages relating to Mr Raab and his Esher and Walton constituency, jurors were told. Ali went on to carry out internet research for Sir Keir and Tory MP Richard Fuller.
Asked in his police interview if it was a terror attack, Ali allegedly replied: “I mean, I guess yeah, I killed an MP, and I done it.”
Mr Little said mental health would not form any part of Ali’s defence.
The prosecutor said: “At the time of the killing and in interview, the defendant made clear, crystal clear, that the killing of Sir David was in revenge. In other words, that he had taken the law into his own hands despite living in a democratic society. That is, we say, no defence.”
Ali, of Kentish Town, north London, who appeared in the dock wearing a black robe and black-rimmed glasses, denies murder and one count of preparing acts of terrorism. The trial continues.
