A 45-year-old man has been jailed at Teesside Crown Court for life with a minimum term for murdering a pensioner.

Ahmed Alid told detectives that he wanted "Palestine to be free from the Zionists" and that he had killed Terence Carney, 70, on the streets of Hartlepool on October 15, 2023 "because Israel was killing children."

A jury found Alid guilty of murder, attempted murder and two charges of assaulting police officers.

He has been given a minimum sentence of 44 years and 52 days in prison at a sentencing hearing at Teesside Crown Court.

Alid had attempted to murder his housemate, Christian convert and former bodybuilder Javed Nouri, by breaking into his bedroom and hacking at him while he slept.

He shouted "Allahu Akbar" – “God is great” – during the attack at the Home Office-approved asylum seekers’ accommodation before fleeing into the street, still armed with a knife.

Doorbell camera footage showed Carney, who was out walking in the town centre, cry out “No, no” as he was stabbed by the stranger.

Prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court said it was not a frenzied attack but a deliberate attempt to target Carney’s body repeatedly before he walked off, leaving his victim for dead.

In a holding cell at Middlesbrough police station after his arrest, Alid launched into a speech in Arabic saying that "Allah willing, Gaza would return to be an Arab country."

He added how he would have continued his "raid" if his hands had not been injured. Alid, who strongly disapproved of Nouri’s conversion to Christianity, said God was “displeased” with those who went astray.