Teesside Crown Court hears asylum seeker Ahmed Alid admitted killing innocent Hartlepool man to police

Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney six times in Hartlepool town centre after “chancing upon him” in the street, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Earlier that morning, Alid is said to have tried to kill his flatmate Javed Nouri at the house they shared in Wharton Terrace by stabbing him several times after bursting into Mr Nouri’s bedroom while he slept.

The jury was shown distressing CCTV footage of the start of the attack on Mr Carney, who was out walking in Avenue Road, Hartlepool, at around 5.30am on Sunday, October 15, last year.

Alid, said to have been armed with a knife, approached Mr Carney from behind, said prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford.

Mr Carney tried to run away and could be heard shouting “no, no” as Alid continued the attack in Tees Street, the jury was told.

The judge, Mrs Justice Cheeba-Grubb, told the jury that Alid is unlikely to dispute that he stabbed both men.

She said the central issue for them “will be what was his intention when he did what he’s alleged to have done”.

Mr Sandiford said Alid, a Muslim from Algeria, admitted to police that he wanted to kill Mr Nouri and Mr Carney, and would have taken more lives if he had not injured his own hand during the attacks.

The current conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza, which erupted eight days earlier, is alleged to have been the motive.

Mr Sandiford said: “He described Mr Carney as an innocent victim killed because Britain had created what he described as the Zionist entity, by which he meant Israel.

"He said ‘they killed children. I killed an old man’."

Alid allegedly told police he would have continued with his “raid” and killed more people if he had had a machine gun.

He said the attacks were “for the sake of Palestine”, said Mr Sandiford.

Earlier the jury heard a recording of a 999 call made by a housemate of Alid and Mr Nouri appealing for help after a “fight” and said there was “a lot of blood”.

Alid denies murder, attempted murder and two counts of assaulting a police officer.

The trial continues.