'Lone wolf' guilty of terror plot to attack St James's Hospital in Leeds
A health worker has been found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack on his hospital.
Mohammad Farooq, 28, was found with a pressure cooker which he had adapted as a bomb when he was arrested outside St James’s Hospital in Leeds, in the early hours of 20 January.
The clinical support worker planned to detonate the explosive and then attack survivors with knives, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
He only failed because a patient saw him acting suspiciously and managed to "talk him down".
Before targeting the hospital, Farooq had planned to attack RAF Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire.
Farooq, who was described as a "self-radicalised lone wolf" denied preparing an act of terrorism but a jury took less than two hours to find him guilty.
He had already pleaded guilty to possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, firearms offences and the possession of terrorist material.
The trial had heard Farooq planned to "seek his own martyrdom" through a "murderous terrorist attack" before using an imitation firearm to incite police to shoot him dead.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said Farooq had immersed himself in "extremist Islamic ideology" online.
His "plan A" was to attack RAF Menwith Hill, before he shifted his focus to the hospital.
His "secondary motive" for targeting the hospital was a grievance held against several former colleagues who he had been conducting a poison pen campaign against.
Mr Sandiford said "two pieces of good fortune intervened" to stop the attack.
Farooq texted an off-duty nurse about a bomb threat in order to lure people to the car park where he was waiting, but they did not see the message and the full-scale evacuation he had hoped for did not happen.
Secondly patient Nathan Newby, who was standing outside the hospital having a cigarette, "realised something was amiss" and started talking to Farooq.
“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 had a "viable" pressure cooker bomb along with two knives and a blank-firing, imitation firearm when he was arrested.
He made at least two visits to Menwith Hill in the days leading up to his arrest, jurors were told.
'Extremely dangerous'
Bethan David, head of the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “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. Examination of his electronic devices revealed a hatred towards his colleagues at work and those he considered non-believers.
“It is clear from his internet searches that he was also conducting extensive research of RAF Menwith Hill, with a view to launching a potential attack.
“The extremist views Farooq holds are a threat to our society, and I am pleased the jury found him guilty of his crimes.”
Prof Phil Wood, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, welcomed the verdict.
He said: “This was an extremely difficult time for staff and patients, and I am immensely proud of the calm and professional way in which they responded on the day to keep everyone safe.
“I would like to thank the police for their support during the incident and throughout the investigation to get us to this point and I am extremely grateful to Nathan Newby for his courage and initiative that morning”.
Farooq will be sentenced at a later date.
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