Australian police charge man with British backpacker’s murder

British and Australian media identified the dead woman as Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, from the English county of Derbyshire.

The suspect, Smail Ayad, was allegedly screaming “Allahu Akbar” as he stabbed Chung to death according to The Herald Sun.

British backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung died on Monday night in Queensland.

The 29-year-old suspect did not have any known links to ISIS and appeared to have acted alone, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said Wednesday.

A 30-year-old British man has also been taken to hospital where he remains with critical head injuries, and a 46-year-old local man sustained non-life threatening injuries.

A hero British backpacker was stabbed in the face 15 times as he tried desperately to save stricken model Mia Ayliffe-Chug from a frenzied attack.

There is certainly, at this stage, no indicaton that – certainly from Mia’s point of view – that there was any sort of romantic connection, ” said Queensland Police Detective Superinendent Ray Rohweder.

Mr Jackson and Mr Scholz, the manager of the Home Hill Backpackers, about 100 kilometres south of Townsville, have been labelled heroes for their roles in trying to thwart the alleged attack. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and is now detained.

Police will claim he had consumed cannabis prior to allegedly stabbing Ms Ayliffe-Chung to death and critically injuring Mr Jackson, but there was no evidence he had consumed alcohol or other drugs.

Ayad, from Marseille, entered Australia in March on a temporary visa, and had been involved in an argument with his alleged victim before the attack, The Australian reported.

They discovered photos on his Facebook page that indicated he might have been infatuated with a model, UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste, who looks strikingly similar to Ayliffe-Chung, according to The Sun.

Her mother Rosie Ayliffe said her daughter was “an fantastic young woman with an adventurous spirit”.

Due to the recent terrorist attacks in France, Germany, and Britain, Australia has also taken steps to quell the rise of Islamic extremism in their country.

It is believed that the suspect had been at Home Hill for around a month and Ayliffe-Chung for a couple of days.

Ayad, a former kickboxer, is also accused of assaulting a dozen police officers since his arrest, including biting one on the leg.

“I know he didn’t have money and he wanted to go back into France”.

“She was a lovely girl who had her whole life ahead of her and we spoke of what the future may hold in store for her and what she wanted to do”, he said.

About 30 people witnessed Tuesday’s assault.