A criminology student who asked his course lecturer how to get away with murder before stabbing a woman to death and knifing her friend in a random attack on Bournemouth beach has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 39 years.
Nasen Saadi, 21, killed Amie Gray, 34, and seriously wounded Leanne Miles, now 39, as the pair were enjoying a late-night chat next to a small fire to keep warm at the Dorset seaside resort in summer.
The 21-year-old fatally stabbed the personal trainer 10 times, including to her heart, and knifed her friend 20 times on 24 May last year.
The defendant had researched locations to carry out the killing and was “fascinated” with knives. He 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, of Croydon, south London, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 39 years at Winchester Crown Court on Friday.
He was convicted of murder and attempted murder in December following a trial at the same court.
The trial heard that Saadi, who had been studying criminology and criminal psychology at the University of Greenwich, used the name “Ninja Killer” for his Snapchat account and also used the username “NSkills” on his computer.
Saadi, who had dropped out of a physical education course, had carried out searches about the Milly Dowler and Brianna Ghey killings.
It can now be reported that Saadi touched himself while in his prison cell ahead of the trial after he asked a female prison officer how much publicity the case was getting.
The court was told Saadi had booked two hotels for a four-night stay in Bournemouth starting 21 May and was shown on CCTV carrying out “reccies” of the seafront and the scene of the murder, which happened at about 11.40pm on 24 May.
During his stay, the defendant, who is a fan of horror movies, also went to the cinema to see “slasher” movie The Strangers – Chapter 1.
Suggesting a motive for the attack, 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.”
In a statement released after the trial, Ms 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.”
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