The moment a criminology student with a dislike for women was apprehended by armed police for fatally attacking a female personal trainer on Bournemouth beach was quite intense. The student, Nasen Saadi, aged 21, was sentenced to life in prison for the premeditated murder.
Saadi viciously killed Amie Gray and severely injured her friend, Leanne Miles, during a brutal incident on May 24 at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade. His actions were described as ‘horrifying’ by witnesses.
Determined to be the center of a true crime story and execute the ‘perfect crime’, Saadi ruthlessly attacked the two women while they were having a late-night conversation by a small fire to stay warm on the beach.
Mrs Gray died at the scene having been stabbed 10 times, while Ms Miles suffered 20 injuries but survived the ambush after screaming: ‘Please stop, I’ve got children’.
‘Remorseless’ Saadi has now been caged for life after being convicted of murder and attempted murder and will rot behind bars for 39 years.
It comes as body-worn camera footage of the moment he was finally caught by armed police was released.
‘Hands on your head. Walk down the stairs – slowly,’ yells an armed police officer in the 41-second clip as he aims his rifle at Saadi.
Saadi, wearing black jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, walks down the stairs while laser sights from an officer’s rifle and another cop’s taser, shine menacing on his chest.
‘Stop. Turn around,’ the officer commands, as the killer student then drops his hands to his waist, prompting cops to scream ‘hands on your head!’
‘Walk backwards towards my voice, walk backwards. Keep walking,’ commands the armed officer as Saadi keeps his hands on his head.
The killer is then bundled out of the front door and told to ‘get down on your knees, do not move’, as he is arrested on suspicion of murder.
Prosecutors said misogynistic criminology student Saadi had harboured a ‘deeply suppressed rage’ towards women after years of ‘repeated rejection’.
While the 21-year-old never provided a motive, a court today heard the defendant – a ‘social misfit’ who never had any friends or a girlfriend in school – was ‘motivated in part’ by his ‘sexist attitudes’ towards women.
The killer told his solicitors: ‘I never got noticed when I did a good thing – people have only noticed me when I have done a bad thing’.
Jailing him, judge Mrs Justice Cutts, said the defendant had chosen to deny his guilt because he wanted the ‘notoriety of a trial’ and had a ‘complete lack of remorse’.
She said: ‘The clear evidence is you planned to kill and went to Bournemouth to do so.’
She added: ‘It seems you have felt humiliated and rejected for any advances you have made towards girls which has led over time to a deeply-suppressed rage towards society and women in particular.’
Amie’s heartbroken wife Sian Gray said her partner was a beautiful woman with an infectious laugh. ‘She didn’t die on that beach, she still lives on,’ she told the BBC.
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.
During his trial, jurors heard how suspected misogynist killer Saadi had carried out searches about the Milly Dowler and Brianna Ghey killings.
His morbid fascination with death extended to his university lessons, where he would pester tutors for details about sick crimes that had nothing to do with the lecture.
His lecturer Dr Lisa-Maria Reiss previously told the court Saadi had asked questions on ‘how to get away with murder’, which had led her to ask the future-killer: ‘You’re not planning a murder are you?’
So warped was the murderous fantasist, he reportedly touched himself in his prison cell ahead of his trial after asking a female prison officer how much publicity his case was getting, reported the Sun.
Footage of the fatal attack showed Saadi ‘loitering’ around his two victims before walking on to the sand and attacking them, and running after one of the women.
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’.
Mrs Gray’s mother Sharon Macklin said in a statement: ‘Amie was an amazing, funny, kind and energetic soul. She had a big smile and a loud laugh and when she entered the room it filled with laughter and her presence couldn’t be ignored.
‘She was beautiful inside and out, even if life wasn’t great for her she would always find the time to help others.’
She added she struggled to sleep and was taking medication and receiving counselling following her daughter’s death.
Mrs Gray’s aunt, Joy Lawrence, said: ‘I see the impact it has had on my husband, daughters and grandchildren, the younger ones only 11 and eight, coping with everyone’s grief. They are so distraught that they will never have fun with her again.’
Speaking previously, Amie Gray’s heartbroken wife, Sian Gray 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.’
Benjamin May, a Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: ‘Amie Gray lost her life in the most tragic way, and our deepest condolences remain with her family.
‘Amie’s courageous final act to protect her friend truly defines who she was, and her life will forever be remembered for the love and protection she gave to her loved ones.
‘Our thoughts continue to remain with her friends and family, as well as with Leanne Miles, whose bravery through this ordeal helped us to deliver justice.
‘Saadi’s perverse fascination with murder and violence morphed into vile, real-world consequences, for which he has faced justice.’
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.
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’.
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.
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.
On the night of the attack, photographer Michael Priddle walked past a hooded Saadi who he described as having a ‘grimacing’ appearance.
Giving evidence at the trial, Mr Priddle said that moments before he heard two loud’ and ‘broken’ screams.
After reading in the news that a woman had been murdered in that area, Mr Priddle contacted the police and was eventually able to pick Saadi out of a parade of ten suspects in a police identification procedure.
As part of the investigation, the student’s devices were examined and officers discovered he used the usernames ‘NSKills’ and ‘Ninja Kiler’.
Following his arrest, the student was interviewed and insisted he was ‘not responsible’ for the attack as he had ‘no reason’ to murder anyone.
When asked what he was doing on the night Mrs Gray was killed, he told police he had ‘probably blacked out’ or was ‘sleep walking’.
Charles Sherrard KC, defending, said Saadi had ‘recognised his guilt’ following his conviction and ‘demonstrated a willingness to receive therapy’.
He added: ‘He is a social misfit, someone who had hardly any friends at school, never had a girlfriend and seemed to be somebody who was avoided rather than somebody’s mate.
‘The fact of that was to provide him with significantly low esteem and general sense of inadequacy.’
He said that Saadi compensated by ‘obsessing’ over horror films and was fascinated by the mind of a psychopath and had a ‘growing sense of rage against society for the rejection’.
Mr Sherrard continued: ‘Infamy became a valid goal in itself.
‘Without using the words of a psychologist, without anything from a thesaurus, what it comes down to, in the words of the defendant ‘I never got noticed when I did a good thing, people have only noticed when I did a bad thing’ and that’s perhaps the nearest one can get to an explanation.’
During the interview, Saadi claimed he was being ‘wrongly accused’ of a serious offence he has ‘nothing to do with’ – and told Dorset Police he was being ‘blamed’ because they were ‘under pressure’ to find a suspect.
Speaking after Saadi was convicted, senior crown prosecutor Mr May, said: ‘This was a senseless attack which shocked the people of Bournemouth – and our deepest condolences remain with Amie Gray’s family.’
