Reading stabbings in Forbury Gardens

On the evening of 20 June 2020, Khairi Saadallah, a 25-year-old Libyan asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK in 2012 and been granted asylum in 2018, carried out a knife attack in Forbury Gardens, a park in the centre of Reading, England. Using a kitchen knife, he stabbed two groups of people sitting in the park in a rampage lasting about two minutes. Three men were killed: James Furlong (36), Dr David Wails (49) and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett (39). Three others were wounded.

Saadallah shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack and later told police he had carried out jihad. Investigators found that he had conducted reconnaissance of the park days earlier and had saved Islamic State imagery to his phone. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to three counts of murder and three of attempted murder. On 11 January 2021, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled the murders were premeditated and committed for a terrorist purpose, and imposed a whole-life sentence with no eligibility for parole. UK authorities and the court treated the attack as terrorism. Although Saadallah had a history of mental-health concerns, the court concluded he acted in pursuit of an extremist Islamist ideology. His later appeal against the whole-life term was rejected.

This was an act of Islamist-inspired terrorism carried out by a lone individual, as established by UK courts and counter-terrorism authorities. The perpetrator had documented mental-health issues, but the sentencing judge found the murders were premeditated and committed to advance an extremist Islamic cause. There is no indication of foreign-state direction or coordination. This incident is domestic, ideologically motivated terrorism and is not an example of Russian or other foreign-state hybrid or sabotage activity. It is included for completeness of the terrorism category rather than as state-linked hybrid warfare.