The killer of Sir David Amess was a football-loving aspiring doctor who descended down the spiral of self-radicalisation after watching ISIS propaganda and Bashar al-Assad’s brutality in Syria.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26 – who was today found guilty of Sir David’s murder – grew up in Croydon, South London with his mother and three siblings, where neighbours described him as a ‘happy boy’ who often played football in the street.
Ali attended Parish Church Junior and Infant school – now Minster Junior – in Croydon, which was a short walk from his home, and he is thought to be one of the first Muslim pupils in the Christian School.
He was later joined there by his two sisters and brother with teachers recalling that Ali and his siblings all took part in Christian practice, despite their Muslim faith.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was born in Britain and grew up in Croydon, South London with his mother and three siblings, where neighbours described him as a ‘happy boy’
Ali stabbed Sir David more than 20 times with a foot-long carving knife at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, 26, seen in a mugshot released today (left) and in a sketch from court today, right – where he refused to stand up while hearing his verdict for ‘religious reasons’
A court sketch of Ali Harbi Ali giving evidence in his own murder trial at the Old Bailey in London last week
Emergency services at the scene near the Belfairs Methodist Church in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed
One teacher said: ‘They were quite happy at a Christian school and took part in our regular worship.
‘Ali wasn’t a high-flyer, but was a hard-working child, especially good at maths. We had plenty of naughty boys, but he wasn’t one of them.
‘I would never have said he was on course for anything other than a positive outcome. He wasn’t an isolated child and engaged with his classmates.’
Teachers and former pupils described him as a ‘bright’ and ‘likeable’ boy who enjoyed playing chess and football.
Ali stayed on at school, intending eventually to study medicine, but his work and attendance went downhill in the last two years, and he achieved three A-levels with D and E grades.
He enrolled at City University for a degree in radiotherapy but dropped out in September 2016 for ‘personal reasons’, jurors heard.
Ali’s father, Harbi Ali Kullane was a former media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia and is considered one of the leading figures in the British-Somali community.
Mr Kullane did not live with his family in London but divided his time between the UK, Kenya and Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where he and his family are well known.
He is also said to have played a pivotal role in anti-extremism programmes in Mogadishu and according to reports, had faced death threats from the Al-Shabaab terror movement, which controls parts of Somalia for his opposition to them.
Following Ali’s arrest, Mr Kullane spoke of his shock at the killing of David Amess saying that it had left him ‘very traumatised.’
Ali’s family are well respected within the British-Somali community with friends describing them as ‘liberal, open minded’ and not ‘particularly religious.’
They also enjoy extensive contacts amongst powerful politicians from within Somalia
At the time of his arrest, Ali was living with an aunt and two cousins in Kentish Town, North London while his father stayed with his sister just a few miles away in Wood Green, North London.
Despite having never been in trouble with police before, the court heard how he had been self-radicalised from 2014.
Ali – seen after his arrest considered travelling to fight in Syria but by 2019 had settled on an attack in Britain
Ali captured on CCTV walking around the gates of the Houses of Parliament on September 22 last year – around a month before the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess in Essex
CCTV showing Ali in Parliament Square, Westminster, while carrying out reconnaissance on September 16 last year
Ali walking along Whitehall, (left) and near to Portcullis House (right) on CCTV footage released by police
Ali considered travelling to fight in Syria but by 2019 had settled on an attack in Britain.
His plans were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The following year, Ali set about researching various MPs as potential targets, carrying out repeated reconnaissance on the Houses of Parliament.
He focused on two particular MPs, visiting Government minister Michael Gove’s west London home and Finchley MP Mike Freer’s constituency office.
Ali switched his attention to Sir David after finding out about his constituency meeting on Twitter.
Ali admitted to carrying out the attack and plotting to kill the other MPs including, but denied murder on the basis he was ‘protecting’ other Muslims in Syria – a claim that was rejected by the court.
He went to meet Mr Amess in Leigh-on-Sea on October 15 last year, armed with a £20 carving knife he had bought in preparation from Argos some six years before.
According to witnesses, Ali wanted to be shot and killed by armed police after killing Sir David so he could die a ‘martyr’.
On his arrest, he admitted it was a terrorist attack, saying ‘I guess yeah, I killed an MP.’
The defendant, who described himself as a ‘moderate Muslim’, said it was in ‘revenge’ because Sir David had voted in Parliament for UK support for air strikes in Syria in 2014 and 2015.
The court heard that Ali became known to authorities around this time as his school performance plunged and he was referred to the Government’s Prevent strategy, but continued plotting in secret.
The so-called ‘lone wolf’ sent a manifesto on WhatsApp to family and friends seeking to justify his actions around the time of the attack, and told Sir David he was ‘sorry’ before plunging the knife into him, causing the politician to scream.
The Tory backbencher died at the scene.
Knife-wielding Ali was later apprehended by two police officers armed only with batons and spray. They have since been handed bravery awards.
Ali told police he had got instructions on how to carry out a knife attack from watching ISIS videos.
He had also downloaded images of the ISIS executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’, along with words encouraging ‘lone wolf’ attacks.
Ali was arrested by two police officers armed only with batons and spray
Bodycam footage has been released of police officers ordering Ali Harbi Ali to the ground in Belfairs Methodist Church
The two officers who apprehended Ali have since been handed bravery awards for their actions
He showed no remorse for the killing, saying it was ‘justified’, but expressed concern for the impact on his family.
Ali said: ‘Most of the worry today has, sort of, been about my family, how they’re taking it, how they’re affected by it, y’know?
‘The only reason I dropped the knife in front of the police officer was ‘cos my sister was on the phone crying her eyes out.’
He said he became radicalised after watching videos of brutality carried out by Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Prosecutor Tom Little QC described Ali as a ‘committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist’.
He said the defendant committed a ‘cold and calculated murder’ because of a ‘warped and twisted and violent ideology’.
Ali had denied preparing for terrorist acts and murder, although his legal team declined to cross-examination witnesses and did not contest the basic facts.
Jurors were also told Ali had no mental health issues that would affect the case.
Sir David’s family – sat almost within arm’s length of the Old Bailey dock – remained silent throughout as the jury foreman read out the unanimous guilty verdicts earlier today.
London-born Ali, who did not dispute much of the ‘overwhelming’ evidence, will be sentenced on Wednesday for murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘Sir David Amess was a beloved colleague, public servant and friend who championed the city of Southend in everything he did.
‘My thoughts today remain with Julia, the Amess family and all those who knew and loved him.’
Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox, also said Ali’s crimes had only achieved a much wider awareness of the ‘decency’ of Sir David and the causes he championed.
In a statement on Twitter, he said: ‘The terrorist who killed Sir David Amess has been found guilty of his murder. There was no other possible verdict. Like the killing of Jo, all it has achieved politically has been to allow millions of people to learn about David’s decency & the causes he cared about.
‘The terrorist will rot in jail and die in ignominy. David’s name will be remembered, especially by the people of Southend who he served.
‘Terrorists may cite different ideologies. But what unites them is their desire for infamy, their cowardly attacks on the unarmed and the total failure to advance their cause. All of my thoughts & love are with David’s family today.’
In response to the guilty verdict, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey tweeted: ‘Good. Justice delivered though we will never have Sir David back.’
Ali was described by a former neighbour in Croydon as ‘just a normal lad.’
The resident said: ‘He seemed like a nice kid. He was just a down-to-earth kid who went to school and came back again.’
However, Ali had not lived in south London for years and his family are thought to have left the area in the wake of the atrocity.
Why did Prevent fail to stop David Amess killer? Islamist ‘lone wolf’ Ali Harbi Ali was able to secretly plot his murderous act for years despite being referred to ‘politically-correct’ anti-terror programme
By Vivek Chaudhary and Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent for MailOnline
Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, 26, seen in a mugshot released today
David Amess’s killer Ali Harbi Ali secretly plotted his murderous act of terrorism for years despite being referred to Prevent – in yet another failure for the controversial anti-terror programme.
The 26-year-old Londoner radicalised himself by consuming extremist material online before he fatally stabbed Conservative MP Sir David Amess.
The Met said Ali ‘spent some time’ in Prevent before coming out of it ‘by his own admission’.
A long overdue review of Prevent is currently being carried out by former Charity Commission chair William Shawcross. It has previously been criticised for a ‘politically correct’ focus on right-wing terrorism rather than its more dangerous Islamist equivalent.
Ali is the latest of a series of Islamist terrorists in recent years to have been referred to the government’s flagship anti-terror programme only to go on to carry out an attack.
Khairi Saadallah, 27, fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a Reading park in June 2020.
Prevent officials were warned he could carry out a ‘London Bridge-style attack’, but he was assessed and found to have ‘no fixed ideology’, the Independent reported.
Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, in February 2019. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention.
Usman Khan, 28, who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had ‘no specific training’ in handling terrorists, an inquest heard.
Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017.
Reading attacker Khairi Saadallah, 27, (left) was assessed by Prevent officials but found to have ‘no fixed ideology’, according to reports. Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, last February. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention
Usman Khan, 28, (left) who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had ‘no specific training’ in handling terrorists, an inquest heard. Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017
The UK’s flagship anti-terror strategy is being undermined by a politically correct emphasis on right-wing extremism over more dangerous Islamist radicalism, critics have said – as a review prepares to overhaul the ‘broken’ system
Professor Ian Acheson, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, said today: ‘We know Ali had contact with Prevent services in 2016. The inquest to follow must be allowed to look into the performance of that system in forensic detail and see what can be done to improve it.
‘Far too many people who have contact with Prevent and our prisons go on to commit acts of heinous violence. We must do everything we can to turn these actions into ‘never’ events.
‘The worst thing we can possibly do now is think that the brutal slaying of David Amess by a man with a twisted ideology is just the price we pay for an open society.’
The Shawcross Review into Prevent is expected to conclude that the programme is being undermined by activists who are opposed to its very existence being allowed to decide if individuals need to be deradicalised.
Some authorities in the southeast of England have even appointed Prevent coordinators who are against the strategy entirely, sources told the Times.
Sir William is set to call on the Home Office to appoint Prevent coordinators directly rather than leaving it down to local councils.
Prevent officials have also being accused of diverting too many resources towards suspected far-right extremists despite Islamist radicals posing a ‘far greater threat’.
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, said the official narrative that the far-right is the fastest growing threat is a ‘comfort blanket’ obscuring the ‘patently more potent threat of Islamist extremism’.
‘The body count does not lie,’ he said.
Following his conviction, Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Murphy, said Ali had been involved with the Prevent deradicalisation programme in 2014.
He said: ‘By Ali’s own admission, and through our thorough investigation, we’ve identified that Ali was subject to Prevent in 2014.
‘He spent some time in Prevent and then came out of Prevent and by his own admission, carried on his activity in secret over many years, forming his plan and conducting reconnaissance and focusing his efforts on many MPs.
‘We say he was the true example of a committed terrorist and exactly the type of people that we should be focusing our efforts on.’
Mr Murphy said Ali did not engage with anyone else as part of the plot and conducted the attack entirely alone.
‘By his own admission, he spent an awful lot of time on the internet as part of his radicalisation journey and his research into conducting this attack,’ he said.
Mr Murphy, from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, declined to speculate on whether there were any missed opportunities to stop Ali.
He said the issue would be examined in more depth at any future inquest into the death Sir David.
After Ali launched his attack in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, he was apprehended by two officers armed with batons, the Old Bailey had heard.
Mr Murphy said: ‘The Essex officers that attended on that day showed immense bravery, challenging an armed terrorist at the scene of a crime.’
The senior officer hailed the members of public who called 999 while remaining ‘extremely calm’ in ‘very harrowing circumstances’.
In his police interview, Ali went on to give a detailed account of his terrorist activities to officers who ‘did an amazing job’.
Ali captured on CCTV walking around the gates of the Houses of Parliament on September 22 last year – around a month before the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess in Essex
Ali walking along Whitehall, (left) and near to Portcullis House (right) on CCTV footage released by police
Ali refused to stand up in the dock today for ‘religious reasons’ as a jury foreman read out unanimous guilty verdicts
On the wider investigation that followed, he said: ‘It would be tempting to think this was a relatively simple investigation, given that he was at the scene and armed with a knife.
‘But every investigation into a terrorist is really complex, very, very detailed, and needs to be methodical. And that is what has happened here.’
Despite Ali’s apparent confession to police, he had pleaded not guilty to murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
Giving evidence, he appeared unrepentant and said he killed Sir David to stop him ‘harming Muslims’ in Syria.
Mr Murphy said: ‘I’ve worked in counter-terrorism for 16 years, I found Ali Harbi Ali’s behaviour in court to be quite disgraceful and disrespectful to his victims.
‘I think it’s a measure of him as an individual and I’m pleased to say that on his conviction, he’ll be hopefully spending a considerable amount of time in prison.’
Ali (seen after his arrest) told the Old Bailey trial he had no regrets about the murder, defending his actions by saying Sir David deserved to die as a result of voting in Parliament for air strikes on Syria in 2014 and 2015
He went on: ‘I hope Ali Harbi Ali’s conviction will help the family (of Sir David) to bring some closure to the dreadful events that have happened.
‘It’s important to remember that Ali Harbi Ali’s attack was an attack against democracy.
‘Sir David was helping the community of Essex at the time of his murder and so I hope this trial helps to bring some closure for the family.’
Paying tribute to the veteran parliamentarian, he said: ‘If ever there was an example of a committed public servant, Sir David is that example, with a loving family and committing his life to the communities of Essex.’
Before the killing, Ali had rejected an earlier plan to attack other MPs at the Houses of Parliament.
He even scoped out the west London home of Cabinet Minister Michael Gove on repeated occasions after arming himself with a knife.
Ali said he had an ‘interest in Christianity’ and wanted to discuss the ‘solutions’ to declining church attendances
Mr Murphy declined to give details of MPs’ reaction on being told they were targets, but said they co-operated ‘fully’ with the police investigation.
He added: ‘We provided them with some advice, support and guidance.’
Mr Murphy said counter-terrorism police would continue to work with governments and media and internet firms to prevent others being radicalised online.
He also appealed to the public to remain vigilant and report any concerns.
‘Policing in counter-terrorism is about working closely with the public, and the friends and families of those that might be vulnerable to radicalization.’
He added that ‘public vigilance’ played a key role in disrupting terrorism.
Anyone with concerns can contact the website actearly.uk.
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