2020 Reading stabbings


On 20 June 2020 shortly before 19:00 BST, a man with a knife attacked people socialising in Forbury Gardens, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Three men died from their wounds, and three other people were seriously injured. A 25-year-old Libyan male refugee was arrested nearby shortly afterwards. On 29 June 2020, the suspect appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. he is remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 30 November 2020.

Attack

Shortly before 19:00 BST on 20 June 2020 a lone man shouting what a witness described as "unintelligible words" attacked two groups of people socialising. It happened in Forbury Gardens, a public park in the centre of Reading, Berkshire, England, about west of London. The attacker used a kitchen knife that a witness estimated to have been at least five inches long. The victims sustained injuries to the eye, neck, head, and back. A witness said the stabbing was "completely random". At 18:56 BST, officers from Thames Valley Police went to the park, responding to reports of a stabbing with multiple casualties.
A suspect with a knife was chased, tackled, and pinned to the ground on Friar Street a short distance from the park by police officers five minutes after the first 999 call was made. The man was arrested, initially on suspicion of murder, and later re-arrested while in custody under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
A Black Lives Matter protest had taken place at the park earlier in the day, but police said that the attack was not associated with the protest.

Suspect

The suspect is a 25-year-old man who was arrested near the park shortly after the attack. He was born in Libya and in 2018 was given permission to stay in the United Kingdom after claiming asylum in 2012. A family member said he had post-traumatic stress from the civil war and had come to the United Kingdom from Libya in 2012 to escape from violence there, living first in Manchester. The suspect was convicted six times for 15 crimes between 2015 and 2019, was said to have smoked cannabis, and had regular visits from a mental health professional. A security source told Reuters that the suspect had come to the attention of Britain’s domestic security agency MI5 in 2019 over intelligence that he aspired to travel for extremist purposes, and he had been investigated over jihadist concerns. He had been released from jail 17 days before the attack, having been sentenced for assault and possessing a bladed article. The Guardian reported that sources said that the suspect was believed by the intelligence agencies to have mental health problems. Sky News additionally reported that he lived in a flat in Reading.

Casualties

The attack resulted in three fatalities at the scene, as well as three seriously injured with knife wounds to their head, face, hand, and back. The Thames Valley Air Ambulance and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance were deployed to the scene, and South Central Ambulance Service deployed their Hazardous Area Response Team. Of the injured people, two were admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital's emergency department, in Reading. One other injured person was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, but was discharged without being admitted. One of the injured was a friend of the three fatalities.
The three men who were killed were friends and post-mortem examinations showed that they each died of a single stab wound; two were stabbed in the neck, and one in the back. They were a 36-year-old teacher at The Holt School, in Wokingham in Berkshire; a 39-year-old American citizen who worked for a pharmaceutical company and had been living in Britain for 15 years; and a 49-year-old senior scientist at the chemical company Johnson Matthey.

Investigation

Initial police statements from Thames Valley Police on the evening of the incident said that the incident was "not currently being treated as a terrorism incident" and that they were "keeping an open mind as to the motivation", although counter terrorism officers were deployed. The next morning, Counter-Terrorism Policing South East stated that the attacks were "a terror incident". It took over command of the incident from the local police, with support from MI5. Police were on 22 June granted a warrant of further detention with regard to the suspect until 27 June.

Charges

On 27 June 2020, the suspect was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Court proceedings

On 29 June 2020, the suspect appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. The prosecutor said the accused was heard shouting words to the effect of Allahu Akbar. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey. After appearing at the Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh Prison, London, for two preliminary hearings - firstly on 1 July and then again on 10 July, the judge set 30 November 2020 as a provisional date for a full trial.

Reactions

expressed his condolences and thanked emergency services for responding to the scene. On the following morning, 21 June, Johnson met with senior ministers, police, and security officials at 10 Downing Street to be briefed on the events. Home Secretary Priti Patel and Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer both expressed concern over the incident.
The leader of Reading Borough Council said he was "shocked and appalled" by the "horrific and senseless attack", expressed his condolences, and thanked the emergency services for their response. The council issued a statement saying that their "thoughts and prayers are with the families of the three people who lost their lives, and for those who remain seriously injured", and announcing that their flag would fly at half mast for the day.