It seems he came to the UK as a teenager with his family and grew up in Wales. The family gave been described by people who knew them as very nice, hardworking, with children who did well at school. A normal family, in the UK perfectly legally and contributing to society.
As others have said, the suspect graduated (possibly with a masters degree) in mechanical engineering from the university of Nottingham in 2022. A former student who knew him and shared accommodation with him in 2020 said he had struggled with his mental health and complained of hearing and seeing things that were not there.
If all this is true it seems an even bigger tragedy than it already is - it could be that not only innocent people have lost their lives and suffered awful injuries, but this may also be a young man who has had a major mental health crisis and done terrible things that he would never have done when he was well.
It is a tragic and terrible situation but we would all do well to not speculate further or to judge at this point. And to remember the words of Barnaby Webber’s mother who asked us not to level hate at anyone on the grounds of colour, religion or gender.
My son lives within spitting distance of where the students were killed. He has lived in the area since he too was a student at the same university and loves it there. It is a diverse, vibrant area with many problems but also many of our best and brightest young people. We have to hope we can move forward with hope and positivity and as the students’ families have urged, a determination to care for and look out for others, to try to keep each other safe, and to look out for those suffering mental health breakdown with so little support.
