Child soldier who embraced life in Britain... and even became a Christian

TO HIS family in Libya, Khairi Saadallah had embraced British life.

He made friends and converted to Christianity so he could marry a British woman who was ‘very religious’.

But his family claims his plans were scuppered by his ‘psychological problems’.

His older brother Mohamed Saadallah said fighting against former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi as a 15-year- old child soldier left his brother traumatised.

He said: ‘Khairi fought against Gaddafi in 2011 in Benghazi – when he was just 15 years old – and after the war was over he went to the UK, aged 16.

‘He is not a violent person. The reason he went to the UK was that he was upset with the way the Libyan revolution turned out, because it turned into a civil war. He did have some psychological problems, mainly as a result of his experiences in 2011.’

His sister Eiman added: ‘He suffered psychological trauma because of the conflict in Libya in 2011.

‘In Tripoli there were a lot of Gaddafi supporters who remained in positions of power after the war which was something that stuck with Khairi – he felt that all his mates had died for nothing. He became obsessed with that to the extent he didn’t want to stay in the country.’

But a family source told the Mail that the Saadallahs had enjoyed close ties with the Gaddafi family before the regime collapse in 2011.

The wealthy family, who lived in a whitewashed gated home overlooking the sea in the Andalus district of Tripoli, were said to have been friendly with the despot’s playboy son, Saif.

The source said: ‘ They lived in a lovely three- storey home near his [Gaddafi’s] and would socialise with Saif sometimes.

‘When we flew back in to Tripoli we would be taken straight through the airport without having to queue.

‘Khairi’s father, Jamal, had various business interests and was involved in government circles. The family would tell people that he made his money in antiques, but I don’t know if that was the whole truth.

‘All I know is that he would fly off to Switzerland quite regularly.’

The source added that the terror suspect’s mother, Rockaya, would be distraught at her son’s arrest.

‘Rockaya is very God-fearing. It is difficult to imagine somebody she gave birth to being capable of such an atrocity,’ the source said.

The mother-of-eight and her husband are said to have become upset when Saadallah converted to Christianity about three years ago. He is said to have sent them a video of himself converting in a church in England and told them it was so he could marry a British woman.

Eiman said: ‘That’s what caused tension between him and his family in Libya – they didn’t approve of him converting to Christianity to marry a British girl, so there were problems.’

She said that her brother had no links to terrorism and there was no way he could have carried out Saturday’s attack.

She said: ‘He goes to church with his friends sometimes, he drinks alcohol, he likes to go to barbecues, and he was planning to go on a beach holiday soon.

‘ He doesn’t even watch the slaughter of sheep at Eid because he gets so repulsed by violence, so how can they suggest that he did this? We see no reason, unless provoked, that he would attack the number of people they are saying he attacked. We can’t believe it to be true.’

Mohamed added: ‘I don’t believe what they’re saying about him in the news – anything he would have done would have been in self-defence.’

Saadallah’s friends in the UK also spoke of his troubles.

The 25-year-old lived in Bury and Manchester before settling in Reading where his older brother Aiman had married a British woman. A source who knew and tried to help Saadallah said: ‘I can tell you for free he’s not some kind of terrorist sympathiser.

‘He was a very troubled young man. It’s a mental health thing. There’s no history of extremism that we know of from when we knew him.’

A friend from Bury said Saadallah often had parties which were broken up by police.

‘I think he was lonely. After coming from Libya he wanted to get to know people, so he would send messages on Facebook inviting everybody round.

‘There could easily be 50 or 60 people there with loud music. He just wanted to be liked.

‘He did smoke cannabis a lot, though, when he was just hanging out. He said he’d been involved in the fighting in Libya and he’d had to leave because there was a risk of him being killed.

‘He seemed proud of his time fighting – he would show off pictures of himself posing with guns.’

Neighbours of the privately rented terraced house in Bury where Saadallah hosted parties confirmed police had been called at least once.

They said residents of the house – still used by asylum seekers – were supervised by Serco, the contractor which supports would-be refugees in the community on behalf of the Home Office. A Serco spokesman declined to comment.

‘He felt all his mates had died for nothing’ ‘He was a troubled young man’