Sir David Amess murder suspect likened response to ‘Little Britain episode’

Ali Harbi Ali has denied murder and preparation for terrorist acts.
Ali Harbi Ali has denied murdering Sir David Amess (Metropolitan Police/PA)
PA Media
Emily Pennink25 March 2022

An alleged terrorist laughingly likened his response to killing Sir David Amess to “a Little Britain episode”, a court has heard.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, stabbed the veteran Conversative MP 21 times after attending an appointment at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15 last year, the Old Bailey has heard.

He allegedly waved the bloody 12-inch long knife before being apprehended by two unarmed police officers.

On Friday, jurors at the Old Bailey watched videos of Ali’s police interviews in which he laughingly likened his comments to a television comedy.

In an initial urgent interview, Ali confirmed it was a “terror attack” saying : “I mean, I guess yeah, I killed an MP. I done it, so yeah.”

He told police no-one else was involved or knew what he was planning.

Court artist sketch of Ali Harbi Ali in the dock at the Old Bailey (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
PA Wire

In the next interview on October 16, Ali was reminded by Pc Jody Grogan of what he had said.

Ali responded: “Oh God, I sound stupid there.

“Nah, I just … the way I worded it. (chuckles) It sounds like a Little Britain episode. Um, I just … yeah, it sounded like what a terrorist act is.

“I went into an MP’s surgery and I killed him, so with the idea of vengeance in a way, so I will guess we’ll get into that a little bit later on.”

Ali described his previous ambition was to study medicine but by 2014 he said: “I pretty much already radicalised myself.”

Ali said he dropped out of university “to focus on whether or not I was going to make Hijrah (travel), which was my preference or to carry out an act of domestic terrorism”.

By 2019, he had decided against going to Syria but 2020 was a “write-off year” because of coronavirus, he said.

He told police he “just ran out of excuses” after seeing there were a “lot of attacks up and down the country”.

He described targeting an MP because they were “accessible” and “numerous”.

On the attack on Sir David, he said: “I felt like one minute I was sat down at the table talking to him and the next he was, sort of, dead.

“But, yeah, it’s probably one of the strangest days … of my life now, y’know?”

Ali, from Kentish Town, north London, has denied murder and preparation for terrorist acts.

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