‘No doubt you thought you had committed the perfect crime’ judge tells criminology student as she sends him down to jail for life
Nasen Saadi, a 20-year-old criminology student from Purley, was today given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 39 years, for the murder of Amie Gray and attempted murder of her friend, Leanne Miles, on a beach in Bournemouth in May 2024.
Guilty: Nasen Saadi was today handed a 39-year prison sentence
Gray and Miles were sitting beside a fire on Durley Chine Beach in Dorset on the evening of May 24 last year.
Saadi stabbed Gray 10 times, including to the heart. Gray was 34. Miles, 38, suffered 20 knife injuries but survived the attack.
Saadi had refused to face questioning at his trial and had pleaded not guilty to the murder and attempted murder charges. But at today’s sentencing hearing at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Mrs Justice Cutts revealed that Saadi had admitted his guilt to a psychologist after his murder trial.
She said in pleading not guilty, he had shown a “complete lack of remorse”.
She added he had “sought notoriety you had hoped a trial would give you”.
Judge Cutts said, while Saadi’s choice of victims had been random, she was “satisfied that you had long planned and prepared to kill”.
Sentencing: Judge Mrs Justice Cutts had no doubts about the murderer’s guilt
The judge said: “Your preparations included finding the right location to murder someone and to avoid detection. You had also clearly decided the beach was the place to locate your victim.”
Referring to evidence of him carrying out internet searches for whether it was easier to run on pebble or sandy beaches, she said: “You were clearly thinking of how to approach and run from your victim. You chose Amie Gray and Leanne Miles because you had a grievance of society as a whole, and of women.
“No doubt you thought you had committed the perfect crime.”
Saadi was found guilty after a nine-day trial at Winchester Crown Court last December.
During his trial, the prosecution said that Saadi “seems to have wanted to know what it would be like to take life”.
After the trial, Judge Mrs Justice Cutts told the prisoner in the dock: “You have been convicted of the most serious of crimes.”
Weapons: police found a collection of knives at Saadi’s Purley home
Saadi was arrested at his aunt’s house in Purley on May 28, 2024, four days after the murder. Police found several knives and self-defence spray in a bedroom at the property.
The trial heard how Saadi asked university lecturers questions about defence for murder and how long DNA stays behind. One of his lecturers asked him: “You’re not planning a murder, are you?”
Analysis of Saadi’s laptop showed that since January 2024 there were searches about murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and her killer Levi Bellfield, as well as Brianna Ghey and her killers.
There were also multiple visits to websites selling knives and searches for “why do criminals get away with crimes in rural areas” and “why is it harder for a criminal to get caught if he does it in another town”.
CCTV evidence: police scoured hours of video records in the hours before the fatal attacks to trace Saadi’s movements
During the investigation, Saadi told detectives he had an interest in true crime, unsolved cases and horror movies.
At the trial the jury was shown CCTV footage the prosecution said showed Saadi walking along the beach promenade.
They also heard a CCTV audio recording of screaming and a male voice at around 11.39pm – the time of the attack.
A recording of a 999 call made by Miles was played to the court in which she was heard crying in pain: “I have been stabbed loads of times. Oh my God, I am getting dizzy, please hurry up, please hurry up.”
At the trial, Saadi only pleaded guilty to failing to provide his mobile phone code to police. He did not give evidence during his trial. He admitted visiting Bournemouth but always denied the murder and attempted murder offences.
He told police he might have “blacked out” and had no memory of the period that included the attacks.
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