This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/22/teenager-admits-killing-james-attfield-and-nahid-almanea

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Teenager admits killing James Attfield and Nahid Almanea Teenager admits killing James Attfield and Nahid Almanea
(35 minutes later)
A teenager has admitted killing a 33-year-old man and a PhD student who were set upon while out walking in the town of Colchester. A teenager has admitted stabbing a Saudi student and a man in Colchester to death in attacks that sparked fears that a killer was preying randomly on people in the town.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stabbed James Attfield, 33, more than 100 times on 29 March 2014. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stabbed James Attfield, 33, more than 100 times in in March 2014 before attacking Nahid Almanea, 31, three months later in the Essex town.
Attfield, who had a brain injury after being hit by a car four years before his death, was found fighting for his life in the town’s Castle park. He died later in hospital. He pleaded guilty during a hearing at the Old Bailey to two counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but denies two counts of murder.
Three months later, the boy stabbed Nahid Almanea, a 31-year-old Saudi student, 16 times as she walked along the Salary Brook trail towards the University of Essex on the morning of 17 June 2014. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is now considering the pleas and whether or not it intends to pursue murder charges.
She was wearing an abaya when she was attacked. The teenager, from Colchester, was arrested after allegedly being found with a knife on 26 May last year in the same area that Almanea was killed.
The two deaths sparked fears a killer was attacking randomly after police said there were striking similarities between the killings but nothing to link the victims. The University of Essex student, who was living in the town, was wearing a dark navy-blue abaya, or full-length robe, when she was attacked on the morning of 17 June 2014. She was stabbed 16 times as she walked along a path towards the university.
The teenager, from Colchester, was arrested after allegedly being found with a lock knife on 26 May last year in the same area that Almanea was killed. Attfield, who had a brain injury after being hit by a car four years previously, was found fighting for his life in the town’s Castle park three months before the attack on Almanea. The Colchester man, who also known as Jim, died later in hospital.
Following the stabbings, Essex police said there were striking similarities between the killings but nothing to link the victims. At the height of its investigation, more than 100 detectives, uniformed officers, community support officers and civilian staff were involved. A number of people were also arrested.
DCI Morgan Cronin of the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate said after the hearing : “We hope that today’s guilty plea will provide the families of James Attfield and Nahid Almanea with some comfort by finally establishing who carried out their atrocious killings.
“The brutal manner in which they both died sent shockwaves through the community in Colchester and far beyond.
“Detectives worked tirelessly to piece together the evidence of how they died and to establish whether there was any connection between their deaths. Sadly we now know that one person, a 17-year-old boy, was indeed responsible.”
At Friday’s hearing, a tearful couple believed to be the teenager’s parents sat in the well of the court and blew him a kiss as he sat flanked by officers in the dock.
Wearing a grey suit, leather jacket and black rimmed spectacles, he spoke only to enter his pleas and confirm his name. He was remanded in custody.
A murder trial has already been fixed to start on April 11, at a venue to be decided.