David Amess: Ali Harbi Ali guilty of murdering MP

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, has been convicted at the Old Bailey of the terrorist assassination of Tory MP Sir David Amess.

Ali stabbed Amess to death on 15 October 2021 after spending two years searching for an MP to kill. 

Ali was being radicalised in 2014 at the same time he was going through the official UK anti-radicalisation scheme – PREVENT. According to the Guardian, whilst Ali was becoming “an adherent of terrorist violence, PREVENT assessed he did not pose a significant danger of terrorist violence and his case was closed.” 

Amess died an hour after the attack at a church in Leigh-on-sea, Essex where Ali was arrested having posed as a constituent to gain an appointment. 

Ali told the police officer after his arrest that he supports IS and picked Amess whose constituency surgery details, including location and time, were advertised online.

Amess, 69, was stabbed 21 times and died in the church. 

The Old Bailey jury convicted Ali of the murder and for planning other attacks against MPs under 20 minutes of deliberation. 

Ali refused to stand as the verdicts were delivered.

David Amess murder – what happened? 

Ali took a train to Essex and booked an appointment at the constituency surgery with the sole plan to kill Amess. He lied to Amess’s aides that he had recently moved to Essex.

When in the room with the MP, Ali received a call, said sorry, stood up and pulled a knife from his pocket and began a frenzied knife attack. 

As Amess lay dying, Ali sent a note from his phone justifying his actions to his WhatsApp contacts and stayed in the church. He made no attempts to attack anyone else despite time and opportunity.

What do the witnesses say?

Ali was seen standing holding a knife in his right hand, saying: “I want to kill David, I want them all to die,” whilst on the phone, according to a witness who entered the church after the stabbing. 

A female voice was heard on the phone, saying: “What have you done?” to which Ali replied he had done it because of Syria and he wanted to be shot and killed. 

The man asked Ali why he had done it and he replied: “I wanted to kill David and every MP who voted for bombings in Syria, I wanted to die, be shot and be a hero.”

Following his arrest Ali told cops he wanted to be shot by the officers but upon realising the first officers on the scene were unarmed, he heeded their command to drop his knife. 

Since May 2019, Ali had been planning the attack. It is understood he was angered by western actions in Syria. He carried out reconnaissance on other MPs and had scouted the home of Michael Gove. he had spent time around the Houses of Parliament on several occasions looking for a chance to strike. 

He had also visited the office of Mike Freer MP and had been seen peering through a window. Searches of his electronic devices showed research on MPs including Dominic Raab; Keir Starmer and Ben Wallace. 

Counter-terrorism officials believe he acted alone.

Amess killing sparked ‘shock and outrage’ 

The killing of Sir David Amess sparked shock and outrage and a review of MPs’ security. 

Ali will be sentenced on Wednesday and it is thought the Crown may ask for a whole-life tariff, meaning he will never be released.

Who is Ali Harbi Ali 

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was born in Southwark, London in 1996 to Somali parents. He grew up in a three-bedroom 1980s terrace house in Croydon with his mother, two sisters and younger brother. 

His father, Harbi Ali Kullane was a former communications adviser to the prime minister of Somalia, who moved to the UK from Mogadishu in the 1990s.

His parents split when he was young and his father began to divide his time between London and east Africa. He is reported to have homes in Mogadishu and Nairobi in Kenya.

Ali and his siblings were among the first Muslim families to attend Parish Church junior and infant school in Croydon. 

He later went to the same secondary school as Kate Moss: Riddlesdown Collegiate school in Purley, south London.

It has been reported that he excelled academically in his first five years at school and stayed on for his A-Levels with plans to study medicine at University.

Friends told reporters that he played football during breaks and was neither a popular student nor a loner. 

It was later in his education years that it is believed he started to take a turn towards extremist views, and during sixth form, his school work and attendance began to decline.

He got two Ds and an E in his A-levels and had agreed to stay at school to resit his exams. He left school in 2015 having retaken his biology A-level. Later that year he enrolled at City University for a degree in radiotherapy. 

But records indicate he withdrew from the course on 22 September 2016 for “personal reasons”.

He told police he dropped out of university to focus on whether or not he was going to make hijrah – migrate to Muslim lands – or focus on carrying out an act of domestic terrorism.

Following his arrest, extremist material was found on his electronic devices and friends told reporters Ali had started to watch extremist videos online including those posted by the notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

Ali’s father told reporters he was “traumatised” by his son’s actions. Ali’s father was involved in several anti-terrorist campaigns against the jihadist group al-Shabaab while working for the prime minister in Somalia.