a man being held on suspicion of killing
three people at a park in reading last
night has been identified as a 25 year
old originally from Libya
Kyrie Saad Allah had come to the
attention of mi5 last year but was not
considered to be an immediate risk the
fatal stabbing is being treated by
police as a terror incident and tonight
one of the victims was named as a 36
year old teacher James furlough his
family described him as a wonderful
beautiful and intelligent man it was in
for Barry Gardens in reading town center
that the attack began around 7 o'clock
last night the suspect was arrested
there shortly afterwards later
armed police carried out a raid at a
block of flats in another part of the
town our home affairs correspondent
Daniel Sanford joins us now live from
reading Daniel
yes Michelle it was a summer evening in
this park right in the middle of reading
town center when suddenly and savagely a
knife man started attacking people
sitting on the grass and in the very
first group he attacked three good
friends died one of whom was a
much-loved history teacher the moment
when specialist firearms officers raided
a flat in reading last night just over a
mile from where three people were
stabbed to death in the worst police
designated terrorist attack in Britain
for three years it was the home of
highly subtler a Libyan asylum seeker
with possible mental health problems who
briefly came to the attention of mi5
last year but was not considered a
genuine risk or immediate threat he's
suspected of attacking groups of
complete strangers enjoying a summer
evening in for brie Gardens right in the
town centre at around 7 o'clock
yesterday evening a group of men was
targeted first he darted round
anti-clockwise the circle got one went
to the other stabbed the next one went
to another stabbed the next one I still
thought was a scuffle but I was watching
because I didn't want to get involved in
anything I was just watching and then he
stood up and I saw a massive knife in
his hand probably at least 5 inches
minimum and that's and then he turned
and started looking towards us and
that's when I just start outing run and
I heard a lot of screams in the park a
lot of people realize inside running
away one of those killed was 36 year-old
James furlong his parents said tonight
he was a wonderful man who will live in
their hearts forever he was head of
history at the halt school in Wokingham
which wrote in a letter to parents that
James was a very kind and gentle man he
had a real sense of duty and cared for
each and every one of our students words
cannot describe our sadness at this time
I'm appalled and sickened that people
should lose their lives in this way if
there are lessons that we need to learn
about how we handle such cases how we
handle the events leading up to such
cases then we will learn those
lessons this morning as a huge
investigation got underway police
formally declared it as a terrorist
attack though detectives think their
suspect was acting alone from our
inquiries undertaken so far officers
have found nothing to suggest that there
was anyone else involved in this attack
and presently we are not looking for
anyone else in relation to the incident
neighbors here at the block of flats
where Heidi sadhana lived have told us
that he had caused problems in the past
he wants through a TV out of the
top-floor window and he was regularly
visited by a mental health key worker
Ciaran Vernon told me that the man he
knew showed no signs of extremism or
violence and had rather been someone to
smoke cannabis with he seemed like me oh
you mean whenever used to meet up we
still talk about drinking whiskey and
how different ganja affects the
different thinking of mine that some
makes you sleepy stomachs happy
something's you grumpy yourself at and
that's pretty much a woodchopper that's
pretty much it and sometimes yard women
or to walk by and just a normal genuine
guy as the bodies were taken for
post-mortem examinations their families
remembered three much-loved men and as
darkness fell the police continued the
meticulous counterterrorism
investigation into the savage attack in
which the three friends died Daniel
Sandford BBC news reading and our home
editor Mark Easton is with me now in the
studio just what should have been an
ordinary peaceful night changing in an
incident log actually thinking about the
awful events in that Park on yesterday
evening the question of course is why
and that will have been in the police's
minds as soon as they were alerted to
the attack what was going through this
man's head because in designating it a
terrorist crime they are convinced that
there is evidence that he was pursuing a
racial religious political or
ideological cause of some kind and you
may remember there was actually some
delay before they actually said yes it
is a terrorist incident and I think that
may in fact be because it is quite
difficult to work out what the
motivation was at that time the the
arrested man as we know it
to have mental health difficulties that
he's not a parent isolated incident
police have said there's no one else
they're looking for there's no
intelligence to suggest it's part of a
wider terrorist campaign but you know
whether this was or wasn't technically a
terrorist incident will be of no comfort
to those who are grieving tonight those
who are struggling to deal with the the
psychological or physical effects of
this crime attacks like this are
mercifully rare but somehow this
apparently random an unprovoked attack
just as people were emerging after
months of lockdown in to the Saturday
evening sunshine it's just it's just so
so horrible mark Eastern thank you