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HOSTEL HERO
I told Nottingham ‘attacker’ to f**k off and punched him as he tried to break into homeless hostel after ‘murdering’ two
A SUSPECTED triple killer is caught on camera allegedly trying to break into a hostel — moments after two students were stabbed to death.
But the man was fought off by a hero resident at the homeless shelter.
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He left and minutes later — some 100 yards away — it is believed he fatally knifed a school caretaker.
Images — from CCTV obtained exclusively by The Sun — were the first to emerge of the man suspected of a horrific rampage in Nottingham on Tuesday.
The footage shows him apparently trying to climb through a front window of Seely Hirst House at 4.08am.
Trevor Proverb, 59, a resident at the shelter, told yesterday how he fought off the suspect.
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The retired forklift truck driver said he was watching TV because he couldn’t sleep when he spotted the man through the glass.
He said: “There was a guy all in black looking through the window. I thought he was a burglar at first so I shouted at him to f*** off.
“But he actually jumped up on the ledge and opened the top window as though he was going to try and come in.
“I got off my chair and just punched him in the face with a right-hook, which forced him down off the ledge.
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“He looked up and walked around a bit but left.
“The security knocked on my door to check to see if I knew the man. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
Trevor said he had given a witness statement to police.
Another witness told The Sun the man “seemed confused and was rambling nonsense”.
They added: “He was screaming, ‘Let me in, I want to see a doctor, let me in’.
“Obviously at the time the residents didn’t know who he was.
“It’s pretty scary to think what could have happened if he had managed to get in.
“Luckily the man whose window it was punched him — he probably saved everyone’s life.”
The CCTV footage shows the man — wearing a black sweatshirt, jogging bottoms and a beanie hat — pacing outside the shelter, his backpack propped up against the front of the property.
He appears agitated. He later walks away from the three-storey property in Mapperley Road in the direction of Magdala Road.
It was there where he dragged Ian Coates, 65, out his van and fatally stabbed him before driving off in the vehicle.
At around 5.30am, the stolen van was used to run over three people as they waited at a bus stop in the Milton Street area.
A male hit by the vehicle remains critical in hospital while the others are believed to have suffered minor injuries.
At 5.40am, a man aged 31 was tasered by cops, dragged from the van’s driver seat and arrested.
Yesterday it emerged the triple murder suspect is a migrant from West Africa, suspected to have a history of mental health problems, who was legally in the UK.
He is said to have arrived in the country as a teenager with no criminal record.
Last night, sources claimed that he was being uncooperative with police and was refusing to answer questions.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “A man matching the description of the suspect attempted to gain entry to a supported living complex in Mapperley Road.”
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Officers are probing whether the apparent break-in bid was linked to the horror attacks nearby.
It is understood that the bearded suspect had been in the process of securing sheltered accommodation, which may be why he was attracted to it.
Alex Pridmore, trustee for charity All-Saints Homeless Shelter, which runs the facility, said the suspect is not a resident and had not stayed there previously.
He added: “We don’t have any idea why he came here but no one was harmed.
"As you can imagine, everyone is a bit shaken by what happened. We look after vulnerable people so we’re just relieved that he did not gain entry.”
Yesterday part of the shelter, which offers supported living to the homeless and vulnerable, was sealed off with police tape.
Across the road, a silver VW Polo — its number plates removed — was parked up with police tape draped across the windscreen.
Cops are trying to piece together the suspected killer’s full movements between the first stabbings and the arrest around 90 minutes later.
A 999 call was made at 4.04am after students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, were fatally attacked in Ilkeston Road.
Police quickly attended the scene but found the pair in the street unresponsive.
The suspect turned up at the hostel just four minutes later.
Neighbours of a property on Ilkeston Road that was raided by heavily armed anti-terror cops on Tuesday said they recognised the suspect’s photo but said he was a “quiet guy”.
CCTV footage has also emerged of the moment the man was arrested shortly after the bus stop incident.
It shows frantic officers dragging him out of the white van before pinning him to the ground. He is handcuffed and led away by two cops.
Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “First and foremost, my thoughts are with all the families affected by this shocking series of events.
“It is unimaginable to understand what they are going through.
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“I am determined that we will work with community members, students from both universities and others impacted to reassure and support them. It is important that as a city we stand together.”
- Additional reporting: Rob Pattinson, Richard Moriarty & Sarah Ridley
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