A knife-carrying Islamist terrorist walked alongside unsuspecting members of the public and helped one with directions during his three-hour journey to murder a Conservative MP, the Old Bailey was told.
The trial of Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was shown CCTV footage of his trip from Kentish Town, north London, to Sir David Amess’s constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Ali had falsely claimed to have moved into the area in order to book an appointment with the MP for Southend, telling Amess’s aide: “I don’t think I’ll take too long.”
The prosecution says he launched a “frenzied and vicious” attack on Amess, who was stabbed more than 20 times on October 15 at Belfairs Methodist Church.
Ali, who told detectives he had planned a terrorist atrocity for years, was awake from 4.22am on the day of the attack, according to his internet history. At 5.02am, he used his phone to look up a video about western air strikes on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.
Advertisement
Shortly after 8.30am CCTV that was played to the jury showed him walking alongside children and adults as he navigated busy streets near his home in north London. Later, Ali, wearing a long khaki coat and with a black backpack over his right shoulder, could be seen appearing to assist a fellow passenger with directions as he waited for his connection at Barking railway station.
Ali arrived at Leigh-on-Sea and later told detectives that since he was early for his appointment he went to stare at the sea and read the Quran.
He waited for about 25 minutes yards from the church building where he was due to meet Amess, having duped the MP’s staff into believing he was a healthcare worker who wanted to discuss local matters.
Witnesses said that he was initially relaxed and chatty but then stabbed Amess after bringing up foreign affairs and apologising.
Ali allegedly told witnesses: “I want every parliament minister who signed up for the bombing of Syria, who agreed to the Iraqi war, to die.”
Advertisement
Tom Little QC, opening the case for the prosecution yesterday, said that Ali had spent years planning a terrorist attack and researched a dozen politicans before settling on Amess.
He had a “clear and specific” interest in Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities. Ali allegedly travelled to the vicinity of Gove’s London home six times between March and July last year. A document on his phone, dated May 2019, detailed a range of options for attacking Gove, according to Little. They included ambushing him while he was jogging, slipping into the press pack outside his home, causing a scene to “lure him” outside or attacking at night by kicking in his door.
He is also accused of looking up Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, Richard Fuller and Nickie Aiken, both Conservative MPs, Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Tory chancellor, and Claudia Webbe, who was elected as a Labour MP in Leicester, on Wikipedia.
Ali settled on Amess after finding information on Twitter about his surgery. The court was told that he stabbed Amess 21 times with a carving knife with a 12-inch blade as he sent a WhatsApp message apologising to his family and friends, attempting to justify his actions.
Ali then spoke to his worried sister on the phone for 14 minutes, as Amess lay bleeding to death, before being apprehended by two unarmed plain-clothes police officers, who pinned him to the floor and arrested him.
Advertisement
Amess, a married father of five, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ali, from Kentish Town, north London, has denied preparing terrorist acts and murder.
The trial continues.