Nasen Saadi, 20, from Croydon, is accused of killing 34-year-old Amie Gray and injuring 38-year-old Leanne Miles on Durley Chine Beach, Bournemouth, on May 24, 2024.

The prosecution at Winchester Crown Court stated that Saadi had spent a month planning the attack. He denies charges of murder and attempted murder.

Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the jury: “He seemed driven by a desire to understand what it would be like to take a life. Perhaps he wanted to experience making others feel afraid, or maybe he thought it would give him power or make him more interesting. Alternatively, he might have been unable to tolerate seeing people in happy, normal social interactions, deciding to lash out and cause harm.”

Jones explained that Amie and Leanne were sitting by a fire on the beach, watching the full moon, when they were attacked.

“He moved deliberately and quietly, stepping onto the sand when he believed no one would notice him,” the prosecutor said. “In a brutal and random act, he stabbed both women multiple times, chasing them as they tried to flee or protect each other. He left them to bleed on the sand before attempting to vanish back into the shadows, disposing of his weapon and changing his clothes.”

Amie, a football coach from Poole, was declared dead at the scene, while Leanne suffered stab wounds to her chest and back and was hospitalized.

Jones detailed Saadi’s disturbing internet searches between March and April, including terms like “deadliest knife,” “machete,” and “what hotels don’t have CCTV.”

She also revealed that during his criminology lectures at the University of Greenwich, Saadi asked unrelated questions about DNA analysis, forensic evidence, and justifying killings as self-defense. When a lecturer questioned whether he was planning a murder, Saadi did not respond.

Saadi had booked a room at a Travelodge in Bournemouth from May 21. One evening, he watched “The Strangers – Chapter 1,” a film where the characters are stabbed. Jones suggested that the film may have influenced Saadi’s actions.

Leanne, who survived the attack, told police that she saw Amie trying to escape before the attacker returned and continued stabbing her. She recounted hearing Amie pleading, “Get off me,” and described how she was repeatedly stabbed, telling the attacker to stop as she turned her back to protect herself.

She added, “I couldn’t look at him. I said, ‘Please stop, I’ve got children.’ That’s when I think he walked away.”