Crime student murdered woman on beach, court hears

A criminology student spent a month planning a random murder before stabbing two women on a beach at night, a court has heard.

Nasen Saadi killed Amie Gray, 34, and seriously injured 38-year-old Leanne Miles on Durley Chine Beach in Bournemouth on 24 May, Winchester Crown Court was told.

Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “He seems to have wanted to know what it would be like to take life.”

Mr Saadi, 20, from Croydon, denies charges of murder and attempted murder.

Ms Jones said the defendant began in April to choose a place for the attack, researching beaches in the south of England and settling 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.

She continued: “With purpose, slowly, stealthily and quietly; when he thought no-one would observe him, he hovered at the edges of the promenade, then stepped on to 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.”

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

The defendant may have wanted to feel powerful or make women afraid, the prosecutor said.

Ms Jones continued: “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.”

The court heard Mr Saadi had previously asked a lecturer at the University of Greenwich in 2023 about pleading self-defence to murder and DNA evidence.

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

In March and April, Mr Saadi carried out internet searches for “deadliest knife”, “machete” and “what hotels don’t have CCTV”, the prosecutor said.

He booked a Travelodge in Bournemouth for two nights from 21 May, spending one of the evenings watching the film The Strangers – Chapter 1, which portrays a killer with no motive, Ms Jones added.

He also booked into a nearby guesthouse on 23 May, it was heard.

He 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 28 May, police found knives, latex gloves and a balaclava, the court heard.

However, no weapon or clothing from the night of the killing has been discovered, Ms Jones said.

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

The trial continues.