Student with ‘rage’ against women jailed for at least 39 years for Bournemouth beach murder

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A criminology student with a fascination for knives who stabbed a woman to death on a Dorset beach has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 39 years.

Nasen Saadi, 20, spent months plotting the attack and questioning university lecturers about how a killer would get away with murder. He kitted himself up with latex gloves, a balaclava, wet wipes and nail clippers to try to avoid being traced.

On Friday, he was told he would serve at least 39 years and 64 days in prison for the murder of Amie Gray and the attempted murder of friend Leanne Miles on Bournemouth beach one night last May. Gray, 34, a sports coach and mother, was killed after a blade penetrated her heart.

Mrs Justice Cutts said he had attacked Gray and Miles because he had a grievance against society and against women in particular. Rejection by girls and women had led to a “deeply suppressed rage” and the idea of becoming a notorious killer attracted him. She said he was an “extremely dangerous young man” who thought he had planned the “perfect crime”.

The trial heard Saadi had carefully researched how police investigated murders. After the attack, he hid his weapon and disposed of all the clothes he was wearing, leaving no traces of DNA or fingerprints at the scene.

Saadi refused to give police the passcode to his phone, stopping them from using technology to pinpoint him on the beach, but Dorset detectives built a strong circumstantial case that proved he was the murderer. The defendant, who chose not to give evidence, always denied carrying out the attacks saying it was a case of mistaken identity and adding that he must have “blacked out” when they happened.

In the lead-up to the attack, Saadi bought six knives, including a machete and a hunting knife, and repeatedly searched for details of murders, including those of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, in Cheshire, 13-year-old Milly Dowler, from Surrey, and the Miyazawa family, in Setagaya, Tokyo. His online pseudonyms included “Ninja Killer” and “NSKills”.

In her victim personal statement, Gray’s wife, Sian Gray, said the “world had fallen” from beneath the feet of her and the couple’s daughter.

She said: “I like to think of myself as a strong person who will stand tall but I’m not the person I was before. I fight every day to keep my career on track and continue to be a role model for our daughter who is now growing up without one of her parents.

“I have to watch her drama performances, attend her army cadet’s remembrance parade and share her successes and disappointments, alone…the memories that should be shared.

“I fear in my own home and on the streets after being reminded what a cruel world we live in and how somebody can, so maliciously and pointlessly, take another person’s life.

“At the age of 36, I should not have to hold my deceased wife’s cold hand, nor should my daughter have to say goodbye and grieve over a coffin.

Our tragedy has been a public display for all to see. In such a small town we have no privacy so cannot hide our grief. That has been taken away from us. Amie’s beautiful life has now been reduced to forever being remembered as ‘the murder victim’.”

Amie Gray’s mother, Sharon Macklin, said: “Amie was an amazing, funny, kind and energetic soul. She had a big smile and a loud laugh and when she entered the room it filled with laughter and her presence couldn’t be ignored. She was beautiful inside and out.”

Saadi, who is from a close family in suburban south London, had no previous convictions. The prosecution suggested he had carried out the killing because he wanted to achieve notoriety as the star of a real-life crime drama he had directed.

He harboured strong misogynistic views, repeatedly telling fellow students at the University of Greenwich that women were weaker than men and should not work in certain jobs.

It is possible he may have taken sexual pleasure in the killing. While he was being held in the high-security Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, awaiting trial, he asked a female officer if the killing was making headlines and then masturbated in front of her.

DI Mark Jenkins, of Dorset police’s major crime investigation team, said it was a “horrible and chilling act” and that Saadi’s refusal to offer any explanation had exacerbated the pain of Gray’s family and Miles.

He said: “I think that is particularly difficult for the families and particularly difficult for Leanne, who still to this day doesn’t really understand why this horrible thing happened to her.

“I think the evidence supports the notion that he doesn’t have a comfortable relationship with, or attitude towards, women. He doesn’t seem to be successful in his interactions with women.”

Jenkins said he believed Saadi had gone to Bournemouth to kill but had targeted Gray and Miles because they were isolated and he could surprise them. “He saw an opportunity and took it,” Jenkins said.