Man who killed in revenge for Israel-Gaza war jailed

A Moroccan asylum seeker was jailed for life yesterday after stabbing a pensioner to death in "revenge" for the Israel-Hamas conflict. He must serve at least 44 years. Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed Terence Carney, 70, six times in Hartlepool town centre early on 15 October - eight days after Hamas attacked Israel.

- BARNEY DAVIS, KATIE DICKINSON

Minutes earlier he attempted to murder his housemate, Christian convert and former bodybuilder Javed Nouri, by breaking into his bedroom and hacking at him while he slept.

During his police interview the day after the murder, Alid told police he launched his attacks because "Israel had killed innocent children".

Alid shouted "Allahu Akbar" - "God is great" - during the attack at the Home Office-approved asylum seekers' accommodation before fleeing into the street, still armed with a knife.

Doorbell camera footage showed Carney, who was out walking in the town centre, cry out "no, no" as he was stabbed by the stranger.

Prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court said it was not a frenzied attack but a deliberate attempt to target Carney's body repeatedly before he walked off, leaving his victim for dead.

In a holding cell at Middlesbrough police station after his arrest, Alid launched into a speech in Arabic saying that "Allah willing, Gaza would return to be an Arab country" and how he would have continued his "raid" if his hands had not been injured.

Alid, who strongly disapproved of Mr Nouri's conversion to Christianity, said God was "displeased" with those who went astray.

Carney's wife Patricia Carney said her husband went out walking early every morning because he enjoyed the peace and quiet on the streets.

In a statement read to the court during the sentencing hearing, Ms Carney said: "Tess was doing what he had always done and enjoyed doing - he was taking a walk on a street he believed to be safe and a chance encounter with this man ended his life."