A Sudanese man charged with attempted murder after the Belfast knife attack was a police officer who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, a media report claims. Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared in court on Wednesday (June 10) charged with attempted murder after the attack two days earlier.

Family friends have said Alodid comes from a large family in Karima, Sudan, which has political connections. Azheri Omer said he was friends with Alodid from 2022 after they met in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Mr Omer said the Belfast suspect was a police officer in the city for a few months, but when civil war erupted they both decided to travel to Europe.

Alodid's pal told the Telegraph that he crossed the Mediterranean Sea, travelled to Paris and then on to the UK. Mr Omer lacked funds so was left stranded in Libya.

Sources reported by the same publication said Alodid's brothers followed him to the UK via Paris and Dublin. One reportedly lives in Liverpool, while another is said to have lived with Alodid in Belfast.

Alodid had entered Northern Ireland across the Irish border by bus in February 2023, having flown to Dublin from Paris.

He was granted refugee status and given five years leave to remain in the UK, until 2028. The suspect was granted asylum under a fast-track application scheme because of his nationality.

Set up when Rishi Sunak was prime minister, the Streamlined Asylum Orocess (SAP) scheme was an effort to double the average number of asylum claims processed per week in a bid to grip a backlog.

The Conservative home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, and immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, have both since defected to Reform UK.

Intended to be used for the processing of people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, the scheme omitted the need for a "personal interview".

There are no longer any schemes for asylum seekers from any country that mean they do not have to be interviewed, it is understood.

According to guidance from when SAP was introduced in 2023, claimants from those countries had a grant rate of “over 95%”, meaning a less rigorous process could be followed to save caseworkers’ time.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch apologised for the scheme and accused Ms Braverman and Mr Jenrick of running to Reform UK, pretending they had nothing to do with it.

She said: "Our kindness has been exploited. There was an assumption, certainly amongst the civil service, but even within the political class, that everybody claiming asylum was genuine. This is naive. We need to get tough."

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said asylum seekers are now interviewed in “almost all cases”.

Stephen Ogilvie lost his left eye and suffered deep cuts to his head, face and back in the stabbing attack, which sparked two nights of disorder in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, it emerged that Mr Ogilvie's condition is improving and he could be woken from a coma within the next 48 hours.