Man entered UK hospital with ‘strain cooker bomb’ to ‘kill as many nurses as potential’

He was found by an inpatient, Nathan Newby, with the bomb, knives and an imitation firearm, but luckily he was able to calm and divert Farooq before seeing police help

A 29-year-old clinical support worker took a homemade bomb into a hospital in Leeds to “kill as many nurses as possible”.

Mohammed Farooq made a pressure cooker bomb and brought it into St James’s Hospital, Leeds, in January 2023.

Detective Superintendent Paul Greenwood, head of investigations for Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Farooq came dangerously close to harming innocent people.” He was found by an inpatient, Nathan Newby, with the bomb, knives and an imitation firearm, but luckily he was able to calm and divert Farooq before seeing police help.

Farooq was inspired by Daesh (Islamic State or ISIS) propaganda to get weapons and make an explosive device, the jury heard during his three-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

But the hospital attack was Farooq’s Plan B – he initially wanted to target the American base at RAF Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire, but he failed to get in due to its high security.

Farooq did not give evidence in his trial, but his lawyers said he was not motivated by ideology but rather he had a long-running grievance with the nurses on his ward.

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

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said the bomb threat Farooq sent over 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.

Farooq thus came up with a new plan to wait in a hospital cafe for a staff shift change and detonate the device.

Mr Sandiford told the court that luck struck again, as Newby was standing outside the hospital smoking and noticed Farooq. 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’.”

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

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

The court heard that Farooq had also downloaded propaganda from social media, including one titled ‘How the West turns Children against Muslims’.

Another referenced Jewish people “controlling the world”.

He wrote a note on his phone a month before his arrest, which said: “It’s better to die than to live a life of humiliation. There’s much suffering in the Muslim world […] maybe it’s time we stand up, maybe it’s time we fight back.”

Farooq also used the alias ‘Ghost Man’ on WhatsApp for a Telegram account. It was claimed he had also made eBay searches for a machete and a bow and arrow in the months before the attack.

The court heard that Farooq transferred £170 to his wife’s bank account to buy a 9mm blank firearm and 9mm blank ammunition from a shop in Leeds.

The investigation found he had become radicalised by himself in accessing extreme material online, and had obtained info on how to make a bomb from a mag by Al-Qaeda to encourage lone-wolf terror attacks against the West.

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

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

Detective Superintendent Paul Greenwood said: “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.”

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. The extremist views Farooq holds are a threat to our society.”

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.”

Farooq was jailed for life on Friday, and has to serve at least 37 years before he is considered for release.

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

The judge said to 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. You were prepared to do the unthinkable. To explode a bomb in a hospital.

“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. It’s a very serious matter endangering the security of the state and bringing terror to the streets of our country.”

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