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Bournemouth beach killer made a study of violent crime

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On trial: the court artist’s drawing of Nasen Saadi, 20, from Purley

A criminology student from Purley spent a month planning a random murder before setting out and attacking two women, one fatally, on a beach in Bournemouth in May this year, Winchester Crown Court was told today in the murder trial of Nasen Saadi.

Saadi is accused of killing Amie Gray, 34, and seriously injuring Leanne Miles, 38, on Durley Chine Beach on May 24. “He seems to have wanted to know what it would be like to take life,” Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, told the jury.

Saadi, 20, denies charges of murder and attempted murder.

Jones said that Saadi had been researching beaches in the south of England for a month and settled on Bournemouth. On the night of the stabbings, the two women were sitting on the sand where they lit a fire and watched the full moon, the barrister said.

“With purpose, slowly, stealthily and quietly; when he thought no one would observe him, he hovered at the edges of the promenade, then stepped onto the sand.

“In an act horrifying in its savagery and in its randomness, he stabbed them both multiple times, chasing after them as they tried to escape or divert him from the other and he continued his attack.

“He left them on the sand to bleed to death whilst he moved away and tried to disappear back into the shadows, away from the glare of the streetlights or the moonlight and back into anonymity.”

Sealed off: the beach by Bournemouth Pier was closed off as a crime scene after the murderous attack in May

Gray, a football coach from Poole, was pronounced dead at the scene. Miles was taken to hospital for treatment for stab wounds to her chest and back.

“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,” said the prosecutor.

In a video played in court, Miles described how she pleaded for her life for the sake of her children. Recorded three days after the attack, when she was in a hospital bed, she said: “I just remember we turned around, and I looked at this boy.

“He went towards me first – because I remember Amie saying: ‘What are you doing? Get off her’.” Miles described how she lost sight of her friend as they fled, but heard her saying “Get off me!” She continued: “He came back on to me and he was continuously stabbing me.

“I said: ‘Please stop, I’ve got children.’ And then I think that’s when he started to go, he walked away.”

The court was told that in 2023, Saadi had asked a lecturer at the University of Greenwich about pleading self-defence to murder and DNA evidence.

The jury was told that the lecturer replied: “You’re not planning a murder, are you?”

In March and April of this year, Saadi carried out internet searches for “deadliest knife”, “machete” and “what hotels don’t have CCTV”, the court was told.

Murder victim: Amie Gray, 34, was killed on the beach in Bournemouth

Saadi booked a Travelodge in Bournemouth for two nights from May 21. He spent one of the evenings watching the film The Strangers – Chapter 1, which portrays a killer with no motive, the prosecution barrister said.

Saadi told police he could not remember his movements on the day of the attack, suggesting that he may have had a blackout, the jury was told.

At his home in Purley, where he was arrested on May 28, police found knives, latex gloves and a balaclava. However, no weapon or clothing from the night of the killing has been discovered.

The defendant has pleaded guilty to refusing to give detectives access to his mobile phone, the jury was told.

The trial continues.

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