Reading terror attack inquest concludes deaths 'probably avoidable' after failings

The Reading terror attacks in which three men were murdered in a park were "probably avoidable" and contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies, a coroner has said at the conclusion of inquest proceedings.

Libyan refugee Khairi Saadallah shouted "Allahu akhbar" as he fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, on June 20 2020 in the town’s Forbury Gardens.

Three other people – Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan – were also injured before Saadallah threw away the 8in (20cm) knife and ran off, being chased by an off-duty police officer.

Since arriving in Britain in 2012, Saadallah was convicted of various offences including theft and assault.

In January 2021, the killer was handed a whole-life sentence at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty to three murders and three attempted murders.

Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford said the deaths "probably would have been avoidable" if the mental health service had given "greater priority to stabilising KS and securing access to long-term psychological therapy".

He added that if his "extremist risk had been better analysed", Saadallah would probably then have been recalled to custody the day before the attacks, meaning they would never have happened.

Judge Coroner Fulford said the deaths of the three men were "contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies".

During the conclusion, Judge Coroner Fulford listed Saadallah’s convictions which he said indicate a "deterioration in his behaviour from late 2018" as he was carrying offensive weapons in public and had "demonstrated a propensity to attack others".

Staff members in probation, immigration, police and MI5 have all given evidence to the inquest over the course of a number of weeks earlier this year – with one probation witness breaking down in court as she recalled unknowingly "managing an unconvicted murderer".

A counsellor said he "harassed" mental health services to examine the terror attacker in the year before the killings, with his mental state forming a large part of proceedings.

The judge coroner named a number of failures by Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Community Mental Health Team, one example resulted in Saadallah being caught in a "catch 22 dilemma" – as a result of his borderline personality disorder and/or PTSD he abused alcohol or drugs which rendered him permanently ineligible for treatment.

Thames Valley Police failed to find a knife at Saadallah’s home during a welfare check the day before he carried out the attacks, because officers were not told he was threatening to harm himself and others, the hearing was told.

But the judge coroner said he accepts that based on the information available to the officers before the visit, they had "no reasonable ground to arrest KS or consider detaining him".

• Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe, Thames Valley Police, speaking outside the Old Bailey

The inquest at the Old Bailey heard the terrorist was "in limbo" for a number of years as his asylum application in the UK was refused, and he was also ineligible for deportation to Libya because of the country’s civil war.

Saadallah arrived lawfully in the UK in April 2012 on a visitor’s visa, which expired in September of the same year.

The judge coroner said that the director of the Foreign National Offenders Returns Command at the Home Office "accepted that it was a failure by the Home Office that there was no system then in place to highlight this fact".

Before his release from HMP Bullingdon, Saadallah said he would "stab someone" during an "outburst", which did not form part of an intelligence report until after the terror attack, the judge coroner said.

Saadallah was referred to Prevent four times, referrals which were all closed, because he was sent to prison and was no longer in the community and "because of a widely accepted assessment that any risk he posed was based on his mental health difficulties, as opposed to an adherence to an extremist ideology", the court was told.

The failure by Prevent to identify and act on the risk that Saadallah posed is a "matter that has caused me some real concern", the judge coroner added.

He said he has been told that "significant lessons have been learned".

• David Wails' brother, James Furlong's father and a representative from Leigh Day Solicitors speaking outside the Old Bailey

Saadallah was declared a "subject of interest" by MI5 in 2019, but months later he became a "closed subject of interest".

The judge coroner said MI5 had "no credible intelligence to suggest KS was planning an attack on the UK" and there was "no realistic possibility of MI5 preventing the attack on Forbury Gardens".

But he added information provided to MI5 by Counter Terrorism Policing South East was "inadequate".

Judge Coroner Fulford will be issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary of State for Justice, chief constable of Thames Valley Police, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

Judge Coroner Fulford recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing for the deaths.

A permanent memorial honouring James Furlong, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails was unveilved in Forbury Gardens on 20 June 2023, three years since the attack.

It reads: "Never will we walk by without remembering you."

A spokesperson for the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would like to extend our sincere condolences to all of the families and friends of the victims of the tragic Forbury Gardens incident.

"Since then, there has been significant learning with changes focussed on much better communication and engagement with our partners and the way in which multi-agency working is delivered.

"We will now review the coroner’s findings and work alongside all agencies involved, to ensure any further learning and improvements can be agreed and embedded as quickly as possible."

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe, chief officer lead for Counter Terrorism Policing South East spoke outside the Old Bailey, on behalf of Thames Valley Police, following the conclusion of the inquest.

He said: "Today, my thoughts, and those of everyone at Counter Terrorism Policing and Thames Valley Police are with the families and friends of James Furlong, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, and Dr David Wails.

"They are also with the people of Reading, who I know have been deeply affected by what happened in Forbury Gardens on the 20th June 2020.

"Throughout the inquest hearing, the families and loved ones of those killed that evening have shown great dignity during what must have been an extremely traumatic and difficult process.

"I appreciate their enduring patience and understanding, given the time it has taken to get to this stage. Throughout this hearing, they have heard detailed evidence about what happened and what was known about the offender prior to the incident from a range of different agencies. It cannot be underestimated how difficult that is to hear.

"We acknowledge the conclusions given by the Judge Coroner today, which we will of course need time to fully consider and we await the full details of any formal recommendations.

"However, we, in policing, have not waited until this point to make changes where needed. When reviewing our actions in relation to this case, we identified a number of areas where changes were needed or processes could be improved.

"Much has already been done to address these issues, but let me be clear, I know that there is still work to do. We are unrelenting in our commitment to learn, change and improve where required. We will continue to work with other agencies locally and nationally to ensure learning from this terrible attack is shared and acted upon.

"In this moment it is also important to reflect on the terrorist threat that we in UK policing and our partners face. It is significant and continually evolving.

"Many of the cases we are working on now involve people with complex mental health and social needs. We also are seeing more individuals with mixed or unclear ideology, who can be more difficult to assess and manage.

"Policing is full of people who work hard every single day to help protect others and help them in their hour of need. We heard evidence during the inquest about the bravery of on duty and off duty officers who administered first aid and who ran towards the attacker to arrest and detain him. We also heard about those who work tirelessly behind the scenes.

"We must not lose sight of this part of police work, but we must also understand when we need to change our response and approach.

"We must now fully review and reflect on the conclusions from the Judge Coroner and ensure we do all we can to strengthen our efforts to keep our communities and our country safe."

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