Murder accused denied attempt to kill Hartlepool housemate

Ahmed Ali Alid accepts that he stabbed Javed Nouri several times but denies his plan was to kill the Christian convert.

The 45-year-old shouted “Allahu Akbar” [“God is Great”] as he stabbed Mr Nouri in the upper chest near to his heart.

The Moroccan asylum seeker then stabbed a pensioner to death in the street after he left the house in Hartlepool, jurors had heard.

Under cross examination from prosecution counsel, Philip Sandiford KC, the defendant maintained that he never planned to kill Mr Nouri despite picking up two knives from the shared kitchen.

Mr Sandiford said: “You stabbed him while he was laid on the bed, didn’t you?” Alid: replied: “No.”

“You stabbed him in the chest while he was lying down, defenceless,” he continued. The defendant replied: “No, no.”

The defendant told jurors that he confronted Mr Nouri after he had tormented him for several weeks.

Mr Sandiford continued: “You stabbed him in the chest because you were aiming for his heart and lungs?” Alid replied: “No.”

“You were aiming to kill him – each time you stabbed him you shouted Allahu Akbar,” the barrister said. Alid replied: “No, when he strangled me, I put my hand between his arm and my neck and shouted Allahu Akbar because I thought I was going to die.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how after Alid left the house on Wharton Terrace he started wandering towards the town centre armed with a knife before he came across 70-year-old Mr Carney and CCTV footage captured the fatal attack.

Mr Sandiford asked him why he had taken a knife with him into the street. “You were looking for someone else to stab,” he said. Alid replied: “No.”

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard how Alid came across Terrence Carney as he took his early morning walk and stabbed him to death.

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A post-mortem examination established that Mr Carney had been stabbed six times in the chest, abdomen and back.

The jury had heard how the defendant was arrested nearby shortly afterwards and police found the fatally injured pensioner as they headed towards Wharton Terrace.

Alid, of Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool, denies he murdered Mr Carney. He also denies the attempted murder of his housemate, and two charges of assaulting an emergency worker.

The trial continues.