‘My Tube bomber son needs help, not prison’

The mother of a student who left a bomb on the London Underground claimed that he needed “help not prison” as he was jailed for 15 years.

Damon Smith, 20, left the device on a Jubilee line train at London Bridge in October last year. The London Metropolitan University student was sentenced after being convicted at the Old Bailey of possession of an explosive substance with intent.

His mother, Antonitza, said Smith – who has Asperger’s – was “just a vulnerable little boy who needs a bit of help, not prison”.