Asylum seeker on trial for murder was 'motivated by conflict in Gaza', jury told

He is also accused of assaulting two female police officers who had interviewed him after his arrest.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said Alid armed himself with two knives in the early hours of October 15 last year.

The Crown claims he attacked Nouri, who was asleep, at their shared house in Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool.

Alid is alleged to have shouted “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is great”, as he stabbed Nouri in the chest.

The prosecution told the jury at Teesside Crown Court that the defendant went on to fatally stab Carney, who was out walking in the Hartlepool town centre.

Alid was already living in the accommodation when Mr Nouri moved there last summer.

Jonathan Sandiford said the defendant initially assumed he was a Muslim, as he was keen on cleaning.

Sandiford said Alid told him that “cleanliness was a sign of a good Muslim”.

But “matters changed” when Nouri began to attend church and it became clear to Alid that he was a Christian convert “therefore, in the defendant’s eyes, an apostate who deserved to die”, the prosecutor added.

Housemates at the property had formed the view that Alid followed an extreme version of Islam, the court heard.

Sandiford said: “The Crown does not have to prove a motive – a reason why the defendant attacked Mr Nouri and Mr Carney.

“However, there is evidence that the defendant had several motives for attacking Mr Nouri, one of which was also the reason why he killed Mr Carney.

“First, there was some friction between the defendant and Mr Nouri from living in the shared house.

“In particular, Mr Nouri had reported the defendant to the police and those responsible for managing their accommodation.

“Second, Mr Nouri was a Muslim who had converted to Christianity, and the defendant would therefore have regarded him as an apostate or ‘murtad’.

“Third, when the defendant was interviewed by the police, he initially thought that he had killed both Mr Nouri and Mr Carney.

“He said he had wanted to kill them because of the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Palestine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant Israel.

“The defendant said he would have killed more people if he had been able to do so.”

The jury was told that Alid and Nouri were asylum seekers living in Home Office-approved or provided accommodation, along with two others.

The jury is continuing to hear the prosecution’s opening remarks. The trial is scheduled to last three weeks.