Reading terror inquest hears of missed chance to find knife

Police failed to find a knife at a terror attacker’s home during a welfare check the day before he killed three people because officers were not told he was threatening to harm himself and others, an inquest has heard.

Thames Valley Police attended Khairi Saadallah’s flat in Reading on June 19 2020 after his brother Aiman Saadallah reported that he was making threats to “blow himself up”.

Although call logs suggested Saadallah was considering violence, an unarmed officer who visited his flat told the inquest he believed he had been asked to attend “for an overdose”.

Pc Lewis Perham said he would have considered whether there were grounds for arrest had he been made aware of the bomb threat.

Footage from Pc Perham’s body-worn camera, which was played to the Old Bailey on Tuesday, showed Saadallah positioning himself between the officer and a Morrisons bag which contained a knife.

The officer Perham said he believed he would have found the weapon had he arrested the suspect and searched the property.

Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, James Furlong and David Wails were murdered by Saadallah – who had a history of offending – on June 20 2020 in Forbury Gardens, Reading.

Highly Relevant

Addressing information from call logs about the bomb threat, counsel to the inquest Richard Boyle asked Pc Perham: “Should we take it from your statement that you weren’t passed that information over the radio?”

The officer replied: “I wasn’t passed that information, no.”

Mr Boyle continued: “Were you told that KS’s brother didn’t want him to know that it was his brother who made the call?”

Pc Perham said: “Not that I can remember, no.”

Mr Boyle then asked: “Would you agree that that information was highly relevant for the task that you were going to do?”

Pc Perham responded: “Yes.”

Mr Boyle added: “Were there any steps you could have taken to make yourself aware of the information?”

Pc Perham said: “I may have asked for more information from the control room.”

Commenting on what he would have done had he known about the bomb threat, Mr Perham said: “I perhaps would have sought more advice from higher up – it would have been the first time I dealt with that (kind of thing), personally.”

Mr Boyle then said: “Have you had to deal with anything like that since?”

The officer replied: “No.”

Mr Boyle continued: “Would you have been considering whether there were grounds for arrest based on the threats made alone?”

Pc Perham said: “It would have been a consideration.”

Also giving evidence on Tuesday, force incident manager Inspector Mark Rowe said he did not believe Saadallah to be a terrorist at the time the call was received because “there was a lot of information in the log that there were significant mental health concerns”.

He said there was “no indication of when KS was going to do what he was threatening to do, nor was there any indication of any… methodology of how he was going to do it”.

Mr Rowe said he was not aware of Saadallah’s licence conditions at the time of the welfare visit, and so would not have been able to say whether a bomb threat would have been a breach of them.

The inquest was shown footage of the welfare visit, and asked why he was looking around the flat when he entered the property, Pc Perham said: “To see if he had taken any tablets – I believed I was there for an overdose.”

Mr Boyle asked: “Is it fair to say that the focus was on the welfare situation?”

Pc Perham responded: “Yes.”

Asked what would have triggered a change in approach to the visit, the officer said: “More information.”

Mr Boyle continued: “From KS?”

Pc Perham replied: “From anyone.”

Asked how it would have changed his approach, Pc Perham said knowledge of the bomb threat would have possibly given him more powers to search the property.

He added: “If I had been given intelligence from the log that he was planning a bomb threat I definitely would have gotten more information from sergeants.”

Mr Boyle asked: “With the benefit of hindsight, there was a Morrisons bag with a knife that may have been used in the attack.

“KS positions himself between you and that bag. Did you notice that at the time?”

Pc Perham replied: “No.”

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

The inquest continues.