Teen found guilty of tube bombing
A ‘DEVIOUS’ teenager is facing years in jail for the Parsons Green Tube bombing that injured 51 passengers.
Iraqi asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan, 18, plotted to cause carnage in central London under the nose of the anti-terrorism Prevent scheme.
He secretly made 400g of ‘Mother of Satan’ explosives while his foster parents were away and packed the device with 2.2kg of screwdrivers, knives, nuts and bolts. The Old Bailey heard he wanted to avenge the death of his father in Iraq and was ‘disappointed’ when the bomb only partly detonated in a huge fireball.
But Hassan said he only wanted to create a fire to fulfil a ‘fugitive fantasy’ of being chased around Europe by Interpol.
It can now be reported he told a psychologist he was inspired by Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible action films.
A jury deliberated for just over four hours to find Hassan guilty of attempted murder on what Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said was ‘overwhelming evidence.’
The court had heard Hassan told Home Office officials he was trained by Islamic State ‘to kill’ after he arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry in 2015. He was referred by Barnardo’s and Surrey social services to Prevent, but kept his murderous plans a secret.
Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “I describe Hassan as an intelligent and articulate individual that is devious and cunning in equal measures.
“On the one hand he was appearing to engage with the programme but he kept secret what he was planning and plotting.”
Mr Haydon said it was ‘good fortune’ that the bomb did not fully detonate and kill and injure many passengers. The court had heard Hassan was taken in by foster parents Penny and Ron Jones MBE, and excelled at Brooklands College in Weybridge.
But the ‘shy and polite’ young man harboured anger at Britain for bombing Iraq.
His college mentor contacted Prevent after he said it was his ‘duty to hate Britain’ and received a WhatsApp message about an IS donation.
Katie Cable became concerned again just two months before the bombing when he texted her: “But your country continues to bomb my people.”
He will be sentenced next week.