Reading stabbings: Killer wanted to 'blow people up', inquest told

(L-R) David Wails, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and James Furlong died at the scene of the attack in Forbury Gardens

The killer of three men in Reading's Forbury Gardens expressed a desire to "blow people up" before being discounted as a threat by security services, an inquest has heard.

Khairi Saadallah stabbed James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, to death in 2020.

Security services closed an inquiry into the Libyan in 2019, an MI5 manager told the Old Bailey hearing.

The official said no "proportionate action" could have changed the outcome.

Khairi Saadallah was given a whole-life term for murdering the three friends

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the unnamed witness said MI5 had incomplete intelligence on Saadallah for a period of time.

The senior manager said the service did not know in 2018 that Saadallah had been granted asylum in the UK.

The official said: "The simple fact that this man was still in the country should have been enough to open a lead investigation."

A memorial was unveiled at the Forbury band-stand, exactly three years after the attack

While in prison in 2018, Saadallah expressed a desire to start a revolution in Libya and then come back to Britain to "blow people up", the inquest heard.

In 2019, MI5 belatedly learned that Saadallah had been keen to speak with terrorist Omar Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen, two years earlier.

"It wasn't [the information] sent to us. I'm not sure I can explain why," the official said.

MI5 declared the Libyan a "person of interest" but the case was closed within months, the hearing was told.

Relatives of the victims including (left to right) Gary Furlong, Andrew Wails, Jan Furlong and Gary Furlong Jnr have attended the inquest

The manager said Saadallah's behaviour was "much more complex" than a "linear path of progression" towards the attack.

They added: "Given the intelligence, no proportionate actions we could have taken would have changed the outcome."

The witness told the court that Saadallah was acting alone and had no specific targets in mind.

In January 2021, Saadallah was handed a whole-life sentence after pleading guilty to three murders and three attempted murders.

The inquest continues.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].