Reading suspect's sister tells ITV News 'her heart breaks' for the victims of knife attack

  • Reading
Officers are reviewing Khairi Saadallah's time on MI5's radar Credit: .

The man arrested following the Reading attack on Saturday is spending his third night in custody, the subject of a complex investigation.

Officers are reviewing Khairi Saadallah's time on MI5's radar last year, trying to determine whether Saturday's stabbings were an act of terrorism.

ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo spoke to his sister in Libya who told him her heart breaks for the victims of the stabbings.

She tells him she was more worried about what harm Saadallah could do to himself than to others.

Twenty-five-year old Khairi Saadallah fled the Libyan civil war, arriving in the UK as a refugee in 2012.

David Wails, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and James Furlong were killed on Saturday in a knife attack in Reading. Credit: PA

His sister claims he suffered sleep nights and nightmares.

"I was feeling that I could have been one of the people in the park, enjoying a barbecue or enjoying a Saturday evening.

"It could be me, one of my relatives, one of my friends.

"He was a very sad and very angry and disappointed with what things turned into (in Libya).

"He couldn't sleep at night. He suffered nightmares remembering all the people who had died and remembering a country falling apart.

"He tried to call me when his mental health went back again, he gave me a couple of calls, daily. He said 'pray for me'... 'I'm not feeling well'.

"I was never worried about what he was going to do to other people, I always felt worried about what he was going to do to himself."

A relative claimed that in 2018 he was granted asylum for five years.

Last year, MI5 received information Saadallah wanted to travel abroad, possibly for terrorism, but no treat was found and an investigation was never started.

Home Secretary Priti Patel visited the scene of the stabbing at Forbury Gardens to lay flowers and pay tribute to the victims.

She said: "We have to look at all aspects of this individual's history which dates back over several years. I think we should be clear about the origins, the information, that's part of the intelligence gathering and obviously the picture that has to be put together."