Criminology student, 20, convicted of fatally stabbing personal trainer after researching murder techniques and high-profile cases

A knife-obsessed student who called himself the ‘Ninja killer’ has been found guilty of murdering personal trainer Amie Gray on Bournemouth beach. 

On May 24, at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, Nasen Saadi, aged 20, fatally stabbed 34-year-old Mrs. Gray in a shocking incident. He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Leanne Miles.

Saadi, driven by the desire to be featured in a true crime show, carried out a brutal attack on the two women while they were having a late-night conversation by a small fire on the beach.

Tragically, Mrs. Gray lost her life at the scene, while Ms. Miles, who sustained 20 injuries, managed to survive by pleading with Saadi to stop, mentioning her children.

The court heard Saadi was ‘fascinated’ with knives and 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. 

The jury was shown footage of the fatal attack in which Saadi is seen ‘loitering’ around his two victims before walking on to the sand and attacking them, and he is seen running after one of the women in the prolonged incident. 

Saadi, who was studying criminology and criminal psychology at Greenwich University, admitted to staying in Bournemouth at the time of the attack but denied being the person shown on the CCTV.

He told police that he could not remember that period of time, claiming he might have ‘blacked out’, that his arrest had been a case of ‘mistaken identity’ and he had ‘no reason to attack someone for no reason’. 

Despite pleading not guilty to the murder of Mrs Gray and the attempted murder of Ms Miles, Saadi was today convicted of the offences by a jury.

Addressing Saadi, Judge Johannah Cutts said he faces life imprisonment.

‘You have been convicted of the most serious of crimes,’ she said. ‘As you have heard, there is only sentence which one should expect to follow the verdict of this jury and that is a sentence of imprisonment for life.

‘You should be under no illusions, the minimum term in this case will be of considerable length.’

As the verdicts were delivered at Winchester Crown Court, Hants, Saadi hung his head and did not show any emotion.

In a statement read outside court, Sian Gray paid tribute to her late wife Mrs Gray and praised medics who helped her.

The statement that was read on her behalf saidm: ‘I want to take this opportunity to thank all of Dorset Police, the jury, prosecution team, the medics, and first response team – to each and every person who helped bring Amie the justice she deserved,’ she 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.’

A nine-day trial at Winchester Crown Court heard Saadi was enrolled as a student at Greenwich University in London where he studied criminology – but ‘his interest was not precisely academic’.

The trial heard that Saadi was interested in true crime, horror movies and knives which he bought on the internet and had called himself ‘Ninja killer’ for his username on Snapchat.

He was found to have obsessed over methods of murder and ‘high profile’ stabbings such as the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey – and looked up ‘busiest beaches’ as he plotted his crime.

Prosecutors claimed Saadi wanted to know how it felt to take a life and to gain the ‘notoriety a killing of this sort might bring him’.

His tutors told the court that he had shown a ‘degree of specific interest in matters not related to the subject of his lectures’ and ‘plied’ them with questions relating to forensics, DNA, self defence, and policing. 

Academic Lisa-Maria Reiss told jurors Saadi asked her questions on ‘how to get away with murder’ and asked ‘how often’ a self-defence argument would ‘go through’ if a ‘person was attacked first’.

His questions prompted her to ask him ‘You’re not planning a murder are you?’ – to which Saadi did not respond.

Saadi had taken such an ‘interest’ in true crime his lecturer had once asked him ‘You’re not planning a murder are you?’ when he ‘plied’ her with questions about forensics and how different police forces operated.

In March, Saadi is said to have researched ‘why is it harder for a killer to be caught if he does it in another town’ and ‘which is the deadliest knife’.

The following month, he allegedly carried out online searches for the ‘busiest beaches’ and then the following day looked at ‘whether Bournemouth beach was open at night’ and if sand or pebbles were easiest to run on.

He even went as far as to search which hotels in the area had CCTV. 

Two days before the alleged attack, Saadi went to the cinema and watched ‘The Strangers – Chapter 1’ which the prosecutor described as a ‘slasher home invasion movie’ where the male and female leads are both stabbed. 

On May 21, Saadi then travelled down from his home in Croydon to Bournemouth, where he checked into a Travelodge hotel which he had booked in advance, the court heard. 

He was recorded at the beach on the same day, in what was described as the first of several visits to survey the scene. 

On Friday May 24, Ms Miles and Mrs Gray had ‘arranged to meet’ at Durley Beach to enjoy a picnic and a drink together in a setting which Ms Miles described as ‘peaceful and calm’.

Whilst they were sat in front of the fire pit to keep warm, Saadi ‘loitered’ behind them and CCTV footage showed the killer scope out the area days before the attack.

In a police interview, Ms Miles described turning round to see ‘this boy’ who ‘wasn’t very old’.

She said Mrs Gray smiled at him before he ‘went towards me’ to which her friend proclaimed ‘What are you doing? Get off her’.

It was then that Saadi started to stab the two friends which prompted Ms Miles to run in an attempt to get help.

After running towards the promenade, Ms Miles said Saadi then ‘came back onto me’ and started ‘continuously stabbing me’, the court heard. 

The surviving victim told police in an interview that she begged with the student ‘Please stop, I’ve got children’ and that’s when he ‘walked away’.

Home Office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue told the court Mrs Gray died as a result of 10 knife wounds in the incident in May, including one to the heart, while Ms Miles suffered 20 knife injuries. 

Shortly after the murder, Saadi discarded the clothes and shoes he had worn during the attack and left Bournemouth early the next morning.

Phone records showed he viewed breaking news articles about the incident the morning after.

Benjamin May, a Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: ‘This was a senseless attack which shocked the people of Bournemouth – and our deepest condolences remain with Amie Gray’s family.

‘Though both victims were chosen at random, Nasen Saadi’s unfathomable desire to carry out a murder was backed up by extensive planning – which included going to great lengths to avoid getting caught.

‘Now he has been convicted and faces life behind bars, I hope he will be forgotten.

‘In contrast, we hope that Amie’s memory will live on; as a much-loved young woman and a pillar of her community, who bravely and selflessly defended her friend in the face of a terrifying attack.

‘Our thoughts today are with all those who loved and cherished her, as well as with Leanne Miles, whose ongoing support has helped us deliver justice. We hope she and everyone affected by this tragedy can find some solace in today’s verdict.’

Detective Inspector Mark Jenkins, of Dorset Police, said: ‘The investigation team worked tirelessly for many weeks and months to gather all the available evidence seeking to bring the attacker to justice for Amie, Leanne and their families who have been extremely supportive of the investigation throughout. I would like to thank them for the way they have bravely endured the court proceedings each in their own way.

‘My thanks go to the Crown Prosecution Service and the prosecution team for presenting the evidence gathered by the investigation team in the best way possible. An investigation of this scale is truly a team effort from beginning to end.

‘We fully understand that this senseless murder had a considerable impact on the whole community in the Bournemouth area. We will continue to do all we can to work with partners and tackle knife crime and violence against women and girls in the town and I hope this case demonstrates that we will do everything in our power to ensure offenders are identified and held to account.’

The jury at Winchester Crown Court unanimously found Saadi guilty of murder and attempted murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28, 2025.