Suspect known to MI5 held over terror knife attack in park that killed three
Police are continuing to hold a 25-year-old suspected of committing a knife attack in Reading.
Three people died and three more injured during the attack on Saturday.
The suspect is understood to be Khairi Saadallah, a refugee of the civil war in Libya who briefly came to the attention of MI5 last year.
According to The Sun newspaper, he was granted asylum for five years in 2018.
ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo says Saadallah briefly came to the attention of MI5 last year
Saadallah was held close to the scene at Forbury Gardens on Saturday night and arrested on suspicion of murder.
Priti Patel confirmed he was tackled by an unarmed police officer and then arrested.
She told MPs: “I had the privilege of meeting the officers who first responded to the incident and who were responsible for apprehending the suspect as well as trying to prevent the further loss of life.
“These officers, a few of whom were student officers, ran towards danger to help those in need without a second thought.
“A young, unarmed police officer took down the suspect without hesitation while another performed emergency first aid to those who were injured.
“These officers are heroes.
"They showed courage, bravery and selflessness way beyond their years.
"They are the very best of us.
“I would also like to pay tribute to the response of every emergency service that attended the scene as well as members of the public who stepped in to prevent further loss of life.”
Earlier in the day, the home secretary visited the scene of the attack to lay flowers.
Questions are being raised as to whether Saadallah should have been deported, given he was known to security services.
Downing Street said the government “will not hesitate” to act if there are changes that could be made to legislation in the wake of the attack.
When asked for Boris Johnson’s view of the handling of the Libyan suspect’s case, the PM's official spokesperson said: “The prime minister has said that if there are any lessons to be learned or any changes to be made to stop such events from happening again, we will not hesitate to take that action as we have before.”
The Number 10 spokesperson pointed to the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Act 2020, which stopped the automatic release of terror offenders when they reached the halfway mark of their sentence, highlighting how it was brought forward “almost immediately” following February’s Streatham stabbings.
Ms Patel said through the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill “we are introducing much tougher penalties for terrorists to keep the public safe”.
She told MPs: “This is the biggest overhaul of terrorist sentencing and monitoring in decades.
"Strengthening every stage of the process from introducing a 14-year minimum jail term for the most dangerous offenders to stricter monitoring measures.”
She added: “We continue to pursue every option available to tackle the terrorist threat and to take dangerous people off our streets."
School teacher James Furlong, 36, was the first victim to be named. He was described as a "beautiful, intelligent, honest and fun" by his parents.
A second victim has been named as American Joe Ritchie-Bennett.[](https://www.itv.com/news/2020-06-22/third-victim-of-reading-knife-attack-named-as-david-wails/)The third victim was David Wiles.
All three men are believed to have been friends.
A minute's silence was held at 10am for victims of the attack.
Three other people were injured in the attack, one of who remains in hospital.
It emerged on Sunday the suspect, a refugee of the civil war in Libya, briefly came to the attention of MI5 last year, but the information provided did not meet the threshold of investigation.
ITV News understands that MI5 had received intelligence he planned to travel abroad, possibly for terrorism purposes, but the threat was found to be insubstantial.
Police have said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled and sickened” by the incident and said “we will not hesitate to take action” if there are lessons to be learned from the circumstances.
Tributes from former students of Mr Furlong poured in after a letter from the two co-head teachers at his school – the Holt School in Wokingham – announcing his death was circulated online.
His parents, Gary and Janet, said in a statement: “He was the best son, brother, uncle and partner you could wish for.
“We are thankful for the memories he gave us all. We will never forget him and he will live in our hearts forever.”
Personal trainer Lawrence Wort, 20, who said he was around 10 metres from the incident, said the suspect was alone and “shouted some unintelligible words” before launching the attack.
“He went around a large group of around 10, trying to stab them,” he said.
“He stabbed three of them, severely in the neck, and under the arms, and then turned and started running towards me, and we turned and started running.”
An MP has told of how one of his parliamentary assistants carried out CPR on a victim of the Forbury Gardens attack.
Speaking in the Commons, Tory Chris Loder told MPs: “In the same way that (Tobias Ellwood) did so in March 2017, another member of our parliamentary family who, by chance was at Forbury Gardens on Saturday, ran courageously towards danger, his only focus to help the injured.”
Mr Loder said a member of his staff “not only used his own shirt to stem the bleeding of one victim, but continued resuscitation on a second victim until the paramedics arrived”.
He added: “This was indeed a remarkable and extraordinary effort from a young man who has been with us in Parliament for little over four months and whom I am extremely proud to have as part of the West Dorset Parliamentary team as I hope is the whole House.”
Thames Valley Police have pleaded with the public not to share any pictures or images of the killings on social media, and instead contact them on 101, or upload the footage to UKPoliceImageAppeal.co.uk.
Despite treating the incident as a terror attack, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said on Sunday the motive is still “far from certain”.
Mr Basu said there was no evidence to suggest anyone attending crowded places is at risk, but asked people to “be alert, not alarmed, when you are in public”.