A man stabbed a pensioner to death in the middle of the street in a so-called "revenge attack" for the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid, 45, has been convicted at Teesside Crown Court of murdering Terence Carney, 70, who he stabbed six times in Hartlepool in “revenge” for the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said she would sentence Alid on May 17. Alid, who had the verdicts delivered to him through a translator, showed no emotion when they were announced.
The former pastry chef and shop owner, convicted of randomly murdering a pensioner walking in Hartlepool town centre, told jurors during his trial he had been jailed in Germany for entering the country without a passport or visa.
The 45-year-old was born in Fez, Morocco, but was raised in Algeria, where his grandfather had a business. He left North Africa in 2007, telling Teesside Crown Court via an Arabic interpreter how his shop had been monitored by the intelligence services who were “harassing” him.
He arrived in Spain and moved around the continent for years, spending time in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Austria, never gaining asylum. Alid spent just days or weeks in some countries and years in Germany, where he never achieved his aim of opening a shop. He tried to marry a German woman but had lost his passport in Greece, he told the court, so the marriage could not go through.
Late in 2020, he took a ferry from Amsterdam to Middlesbrough where he was arrested by police as he did not have the correct papers and he applied for asylum.
Asked by John Elvidge KC, his defence counsel, if that was successful, Alid said: “I didn’t have any answer.” His asylum status was still being processed at the time of the murder, it was understood. He was permitted to work four hours a week, but that did not lead to him getting a job, and he was often seen jogging around Hartlepool to keep fit.
Alid was a devout Muslim and prayed five times a day at home, but did not attend a local mosque. He clashed with other asylum seekers living at the Home Office-approved accommodation in Wharton Terrace, including arguments about his cleanliness and them leaving alcohol in the communal fridge, which he said was against his religious beliefs.
In the days leading up to the attack, they grew concerned about his reaction to the Hamas attacks on Israel. Javed Nouri, the man he tried to murder, told police later: “He was sitting on the kitchen chair and checking the news on his mobile phone. He was laughing and every time they would kill somebody, he would praise God.” He added: “I was very upset from that night and I have seen something terrible and frightening in his eyes.”