Hiree Sadullah had come to the attention of M I five last year but was not considered to be an immediate risk.

The fatal stabbing is being treated by police as a terror incident on tonight.

One of the victims was named as a 36 year old teacher, James Furlough.

His family described him as a wonderful, beautiful and intelligent man.

It was in four Berry gardens in Reading Town Centre that the attack began around seven o'clock last night.

The suspect was arrested there shortly afterwards.

Later, armed police carried out a raid at a block of flats in another part of the town.

Our Home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford joins us now live from reading.

Daniel.

Yes, Michelle.

It was a summer evening in this park, right in the middle of Reading Town Centre when suddenly and savagely a knife man started attacking people sitting on the grass.

And in the very first group he attacked three good friends died, one of whom was a much loved history teacher the moment when specialist firearms officers raided a flat in reading last night, just over a mile from where three people were stabbed to death in the worst police designated terrorist attack in Britain for three years.

It was the home of highly Sadullah, a Libyan asylum seeker with possible mental health problems who briefly came to the attention of M.

I five last year but was not considered a genuine risk or immediate threat.

He's suspected of attacking groups of complete strangers, enjoying a summer evening in for Bree Gardens, right in the town centre.

At around seven o'clock yesterday evening, a group of men was targeted.

First be darted round anti clockwise.

That circle got one, went to another step.

The next one went to another stab.

The next one I still thought was a scuffle.

But I was watching cause I didn't want to get involved in anything.

Um, I was just watching, and then he stood up and I saw a massive knife in his hand, probably at least five inches minimum, and that's how many turned and start looking towards us on.

That's when I just start shouting, run!

And I had a lot of screams in the park.

A lot of people realize in started running away.

One of those killed was 36 year old James Furlong, his parents said tonight.

He was a wonderful man who will live in their hearts forever.

He was head of history at the whole school in Wokingham, which wrote in a letter to parents that James was a very kind and gentle man.

He had a really sense of duty and cared for each and every one of our students.

Words cannot describe our sadness at this time.

I'm appalled and sickened that people should lose their lives in this way.

If there are lessons that we need to learn about how we handle such cases, how we handle the events leading up to such cases, then we will learn those lessons.

This morning, as a huge investigation got underway, police formally declared it as a terrorist attack.

The detectives think their suspect was acting alone.

From our enquiries undertaken, SOFA officers have found nothing to suggest that there was anyone else involved in this attack.

Presently, we are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Neighbors here, the block of flats where Heidi Sadullah lived have told us that he had caused problems in the past.

He wants through a TV out of the top floor window, and it was regularly visited by a mental health key worker.

Karen Vernon told me that the man he knew showed no signs of extremism or violence.

I would rather be in someone to smoke cannabis with.

He seemed like meal.

You mean whenever used to meet up.

We used to talk about drinking whiskey and how different ganja effects the different thinking of mind that some makes you sleepy, stomach happy, something too grumpy.

And that's pretty much what would tap out.

That's pretty much it and sometimes your women, or to buy just a normal, genuine guy.

As the bodies were taken for post mortem examinations, their families remembered three much loved men, and as darkness fell, the police continued the meticulous counterterrorism investigation into the savage attack in which the three friends died.

Daniel Sanford, BBC News reading and our Home editor, Mark Eastern, is with me now in the studio, just what should have been an ordinary, peaceful night changing in an incident lock, actually thinking about the awful events in that park on yesterday evening.

The question, of course, is why that will have Bean in the polices minds as soon as they were alerted to the attack, what was going through this man's head?

Because in designating it a terrorist crime, they are convinced that there is evidence that he was pursuing a a racial, religious, political or ideological cause off some kind.

And you may remember there was actually some delay before they actually said, Yes, it is a terrorist incident.

I think that may in fact, be because it is quite difficult to work out what the motivation waas at that time the arrested man is.

We know it's understood to have have mental health difficulties that he's not apparently isolated incident.

Police have said there's no one else that looking for.

There's no intelligence to suggest it's part of a wider terrorist campaign.

But you know, whether this waas or wasn't technically a terrorist incident will be off.

No comfort to those who are grieving tonight.

Those who are struggling to deal with the psychological or physical effect off this crime.

Attacks like this are mercifully rare, but somehow this apparently random and unprovoked attack justice.

People were emerging after months of locked down into the Saturday evening sunshine.

Just just so horrible.

Mark a stone.

Thank you.