Reading stabbing suspect ‘wanted to marry a British girl’ family claims
THE Reading stabbing suspect wanted to marry a British girl, his family claimed today.
Khairi Saadallah, 25, converted to Christianity when he started to date a woman in England after seeking asylum in the UK.
The young man is now being quizzed by counter-terrorism police after three people were stabbed to death in Reading's Forbury Gardens on Saturday night.
Mr Saadallah’s sister, Eiman, said his decision had created a divide in his Islamic family.
She told the Daily Mail: "They didn’t approve of him converting to Christianity to marry a British girl."
And the suspect had spent three months volunteering at a Baptist church.
Stewart Johnston, operations manager for the church, said: "It was unclear that he had any sort of faith.
"He would be stacking chairs, putting chairs out, helping in the kitchen, that sort of thing."
It was previously revealed he had started dating a Christian girl in England and converted three years ago.
It was previously claimed that Saadallah travelled to the UK as an illegal immigrant in 2012 before being granted asylum in 2018.
WHY WAS HE FREE?
And overnight, the Sun revealed he had been discharged from Reading’s Prospect Park mental hospital last Wednesday.
The Libyan asylum seeker was taken back to his flat in the south of the Berkshire town despite apparently breaching the terms of his release.
The next day, he is alleged to have fatally knifed pals James Furlong, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails and wounded nine others in Forbury Gardens.
He was said to have boasted — within earshot of staff — that he had fought for and against IS.
he had boasted to friends he had been forced to leave Libya for fighting to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi as a child.
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Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “There were clearly very many worrying signals.
"The bottom line is that people have made crucial decisions in this case — and others are having to live with the consequences.”
Saadallah’s family have denied he is a terrorist.
