Parsons Green bomber lied about his age
THE Parsons Green bomber lied about his age to stay in the UK, a judge ruled yesterday, raising renewed questions over the screening of child migrants.
Ahmed Hassan entered Britain illegally three years ago and applied for asylum, claiming to be a 16-year-old orphan who had keen kidnapped by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Yesterday, Iraqi-born Hassan was jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years after being found guilty of attempting to murder dozens of commuters on a rush hour train at Parsons Green in south-west London.
But the case raises serious questions over the ability of officials to weed out asylum seekers who take advantage of the system by claiming to be children.
Two years ago the Government came under intense criticism when pictures emerged showing asylum seekers who looked much older than 17 claiming to be unaccompanied children. Home Office officials suggested they looked older because of the ordeals they had suffered. But critics insisted it showed the system was open to exploitation and offered a gateway for terrorists.
Sentencing Hassan yesterday, Mr Justice Haddon-cave said the length of the prison term reflected the fact he did not believe Hassan was only 18. He also said he hoped the amount of time he spent in prison would give him a chance to properly study the Koran, and to see Islam was a religion of peace.
More than 50 people were injured when a bomb partially detonated, sending a fireball down the busy carriage of the District Line train last September.
Many people would have died had the device, packed with 400g of “Mother of Satan” explosives, functioned as Hassan had intended. At the hearing at the Old Bailey, the judge said: “Your intention that morning was to kill as many members of the British
public as possible by planting the IED on a busy commuter Tube train.”
He added: “You will have plenty of time to study the Koran in prison. It is a book of peace. Islam forbids breaking the law of the land. Islam forbids terror.”
Hassan entered Britain hidden in a lorry around the time the Government had relaxed rules on accepting asylum applications from lone minors. He was found a place at Barnardo’s and made a formal asylum application to the Home Office in January 2016. He had no documents with him and told officials his parents were dead and he had been kidnapped by Isil and trained to kill.
While his application was being processed he was placed with Ron and Penny Jones, foster carers who have since complained they should have been warned to look for signs of his radicalisation. Hassan was given a place at college to study photography and filmmaking.
Despite suspicions about his true age and back story, officials from the Government’s anti-radicalisation Prevent programme failed to spot his terrorist intentions.
Mr Justice Haddon-cave told Hassan: “I note that your tutor at college thought you were physically and mentally older than you claimed to be. I am satisfied that you lied about your date of birth on arrival in order to glean the special privileges accorded to children entering the UK.”
The judge said that Hassan had been shown “every kindness” since he arrived in Britain yet he harboured “dark thoughts” and significant hatred and animosity toward the country that had taken him in.