Man talked out of exploding bomb in hospital jailed for minimum of 37 years

An “extraordinary, ordinary man” who talked a “self-radicalised lone wolf terrorist” out of exploding a device in the maternity wing of a hospital has been praised by a judge who jailed the potential bomber for a minimum of 37 years.

Mohammad Farooq took a home-made pressure cooker bomb, which was modelled on those detonated at the 2013 Boston Marathon but with twice the amount of explosives, into St James’s Hospital in Leeds in January 2023, but “lost his bottle” after talking to patient Nathan Newby.

Prosecutors said the clinical support worker had planned to “kill as many nurses as possible”.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Farooq, now 29, targeted the hospital as his “Plan B” after first travelling to the American base at RAF Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire, but failing to get in due to the high security.

Mrs Cheema-Grubb jailed him for life on Friday, ordering him to serve at least 37 years before he is considered for release.

The judge said of Mr Newby: “He’s an extraordinary, ordinary man whose decency and kindness on January 20 2023 prevented an atrocity in a maternity wing of a major British hospital.”

She said Mr Newby is a “modest and gentle man whose evidence was among the most remarkable this court has ever heard”.

The judge told Farooq: “This was deliberately to cause maximum damage to life. But at the end, your courage failed you and the kind thoughtfulness of a passing stranger saved you and those you targeted.”

She said: “You were prepared to do the unthinkable. To explode a bomb in a hospital.”

And she added: “Your responsibility is not reduced by the fact that you lost your bottle and were persuaded, while in emotional turmoil, to stand down and let Mr Newby call the police.”

Wearing a grey t-shirt and sporting long black hair and a substantial beard, Farooq stood in the dock as the judge said to him: “It’s a very serious matter endangering the security of the state and bringing terror to the streets of our country.”

She said that “multiple deaths were risked and were likely to be caused” as he “decided to carry out an atrocity at the place where dedicated staff look after vulnerable ill citizens”.

Prosecutors told a jury last year how the defendant had become a “self-radicalised lone wolf terrorist”, inspired by the Islamic State group.

Although Farooq did not give evidence in his trial, his lawyers claimed he was not motivated by ideology, arguing instead that he worked at the hospital and had a long-running grievance with nurses on his ward.

The court heard how, when he arrived at the hospital, he had planned to use a bomb threat to evacuate part of the hospital so he could attack fleeing workers with knives before using an imitation firearm to incite police to shoot him dead.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said the bomb threat he sent in a text to an off-duty nurse was not seen for almost an hour, and the full-scale evacuation he had hoped for did not happen.

The prosecutor said Farooq came up with a new plan to wait in a hospital cafe for a staff shift change and detonate his device.

But Mr Sandiford told the court that “luck intervened again” because Mr Newby was standing outside the hospital having a cigarette and noticed the defendant.

He said: “Mr Newby realised something was amiss and began to talk to him instead of walking away.

“That simple act of kindness almost certainly saved many lives that night because, as the defendant was later to tell the police officers who arrested him, Mr Newby succeeded in ‘talking him down’.”

Mr Sandiford said Farooq told Mr Newby about his grievances towards his colleagues and his plan to take the bomb into the hospital and “kill as many nurses as possible”.

Mr Newby stayed with the defendant and eventually persuaded him to move away from the building, and hand over his phone to call the police.

An investigation found Farooq had become self-radicalised through accessing extremist material online, and had obtained bomb-making instructions in a magazine published by Al Qaeda to encourage lone wolf terrorist attacks against the West.

Farooq admitted firearms offences, possessing an explosive substance with intent and having a document likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

He was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism after a trial last year.

Detective Superintendent Paul Greenwood, head of investigations for Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Farooq came dangerously close to harming innocent people.

“Thanks to the bravery of Nathan Newby, he never fully realised his plans and has instead been forced to face the long-term consequences of his extreme ideology and deep-seated grievances.”

Professor Phil Wood, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Today’s sentencing helps us continue to move on from the events of that morning.

“It was an extremely difficult time for staff and patients, and I remain immensely proud of the calm and professional way in which they responded on the day to keep everyone safe.

“I would again like to thank the police for their support during the incident and throughout the investigation, and I am extremely grateful to Nathan Newby for his courage and initiative that morning.”

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division, said: “Mohammad Farooq is an extremely dangerous individual who amassed a significant amount of practical and theoretical information that enabled him to produce a viable explosive device.

“He then took that homemade explosive device to a hospital where he worked with the intention to cause serious harm.”

She said: “The extremist views Farooq holds are a threat to our society.”