Deaths of three men killed in Reading terror attack were ‘probably avoidable’ – as families slam ‘catastrophic failures’
THE deaths of three men killed in the Reading terror attack were “probably avoidable”, an inquest has concluded.
Pals James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, were fatally knifed on June 20, 2020, in the town’s Forbury Gardens.
Libyan refugee Khairi Saadallah shouted “Allahu akhbar” as he launched into a crazed frenzy with the eight-inch blade.
Three other people – Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan – were also injured before Saadallah threw away the weapon and ran off.
An off-duty police officer chased after the sick and twisted individual, who had been convicted of multiple offences since arriving in Britain in 2012.
Fours years later, an inquest has heard the failure to provide Saadallah with correct mental health support contributed to the attack taking place.
Following the ruling, Dr David Wails’ brother Andrew Wails said: “The failings of the state exposed by this inquest sicken and disgust me.”
Gary Furlong, the father of James Furlong, added the three victims had been failed by “virtually all state agencies” who dealt with Saadallah.
“Our boys did not stand a chance,” he continued.
Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford said the deaths “probably would have been avoidable” if the mental health service had given “greater priority to stabilising Saadallah and securing access to long-term psychological therapy”.
He added that if his “extremist risk had been better analysed”, Saadallah would 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”.
A counsellor told the hearing he “harassed” mental health services to examine Saadallah in the year before the killings.
Mr Fulford said Berkshire Healthcare NHS’ Community Mental Health Team failed the victims when they didn’t address Saadallah’s drug and alcohol abuse – which made him ineligible for treatment for his borderline personality disorder.
Thames Valley Police also failed to find a knife at Saadallah’s home during a welfare check the day before he carried out the attacks, the hearing was told.
However, Mr Fulford said officers had “no reasonable ground to arrest Saadallah or consider detaining him” before the visit.
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.
Nick Harborne from Reading Refugee Support Group wrote to NHS Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group on December 4, 2019, fearful Saadallah was “now extremely vulnerable to being radicalised”.
He added: “I am fearful if he does not now get the right support for his trauma whilst in prison, there could disastrous consequences on his release.”
Saadallah was declared a “subject of interest” by MI5 in 2019, but months later he became a “closed subject of interest”.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which was identified by the coroner as having made a number of failures in the treatment of Saadallah, said it would review the findings and make any improvements “as quickly as possible”.
A statement 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 focused 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.”
In January 2021, the killer was handed a life sentence after pleading guilty to three murders and three attempted murders.
Judge Coroner Fulford recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing for the deaths.