A “self-radicalised lone wolf terrorist” who planned to use a bomb twice as powerful as the 2013 Boston Marathon device to blow up a hospital, has been convicted of preparing terrorist acts on Wednesday.
On Jan. 20, 2023, Mohammad Farooq, 28, took the pressure cooker bomb to St. James’s Hospital in Leeds, where he worked, and intended to “kill as many nurses as possible.”
But a trial at Sheffield Crown Court heard he was talked out of the attack by an “incredibly brave” patient, Nathan Newby, who spotted him as he smoked a cigarette outside the hospital building.
Farooq, a clinical support worker, was immersed in “extremist Islamic ideology” and went to the hospital to “seek his own martyrdom” but Mr. Newby intervened, initially thinking Farooq had just received some distressing medical news.
Detective Superintendent Paul Greenwood said Farooq, a hospital support worker, was an “incredibly dangerous individual” who would have caused “large scale loss of life” if he had detonated the bomb.
Mr. Greenwood said the 10 kilogram bomb was modelled on the one which killed three people and injured more than 200 at the Boston Marathon in 2013 but contained twice as much explosives.
Prosecutors said Farooq had intended to attack RAF Menwith Hill, a military base in North Yorkshire identified by the terrorist group ISIS because it is used by the United States as a listening post.
But he changed his mind, deciding the hospital in Leeds where he worked was a “softer and less well-protected target.”
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford, KC said when Farooq arrived on the morning of Jan. 20, he planned to detonate the bomb, then stab as many people as possible before producing an imitation firearm which would, he hoped, encourage the police to shoot him dead.
But Mr. Sandiford 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’,” he added.
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 denied preparing terrorist acts but was convicted after a trial and will be sentenced later this year.
