Extremist stabbed housemate as he slept, court hears

Ahmed Alid is on trial for four offences, including murder and attempted murder, at Teesside Crown Court

A man accused of knifing a pensioner to death in the street also broke into his housemate's bedroom and repeatedly stabbed him, a court heard.

Ahmed Alid, 45, attacked sleeping Javed Nouri at their shared accommodation in Hartlepool, days after the Hamas attacks last October.

Mr Nouri, 31, managed to fight Mr Alid off, and the accused fled into the town centre where he fatally stabbed Terence Carney, 70, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Mr Alid denies murder and the attempted murder of his housemate.

Warning - this report contains distressing details

The court heard Mr Alid was a Moroccan asylum seeker living with three other men, including Mr Nouri, at a property on Wharton Terrace in Hartlepool.

Prosecutors previously said Mr Alid had wanted to kill people in support of Palestine and to oppose Israel.

'Stabbed in the heart'

Mr Nouri told the court he had been sleeping in the house last October when his "Islamic extremist" roommate broke into his bedroom and repeatedly stabbed him, while shouting "Allahu Akbar".

In a police interview played to the court, Mr Nouri said Mr Alid stabbed him in the heart as soon as he entered the room and, although it was dark, he could see the "shine of the knife in his hand".

Mr Nouri told the court Mr Alid was a "crazy man" and the attack was "terrible and terrifying".

"I felt I wouldn’t be seeing my family again," he said. "I was getting out of breath and felt I was breathing my last breath."

Mr Nouri managed to fight Mr Alid off, despite being stabbed six times.

The defendant then took to Hartlepool town centre and stabbed Mr Carney "in revenge for what he believed to be the killing of children by Israel," the prosecution has alleged.

'Attack us at any moment'

Mr Nouri said, before the attack, he had reported Mr Alid’s "dangerous behaviour" to the housing manager, the police and the Home Office.

He said Mr Alid had extreme religious views and always carried a knife around the house with him.

Mr Alid challenged the housemates over beer that had been left in the fridge, Mr Nouri said, and said it should not be in the house.

He told police: "I realised he was an extreme Muslim, in his religion alcohol consumption is not good."

Mr Nouri, who had moved in to the property three months before the alleged attack, went to housing bosses and told them of his concerns about Mr Alid, particularly given that Mr Nouri had "changed his religion".

"His behaviour was threatening and I thought he could attack us at any moment," he told jurors.

He added: "I told them our life was in danger."

Turned down for asylum

Mr Nouri said he had also challenged Mr Alid about why he had come to the UK and not to a Muslim country if he did not like how people lived.

Mr Nouri told police: "He would tell me his family is in Germany and they 'did not give me asylum there - that's why I came here'.

"[He said] 'I am waiting to get a decision for my asylum and to bring them over here'."

Mr Alid denies murdering Mr Carney, attempted murder and two counts of assaulting detectives after he was arrested.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA Media.