Bomber may have been late and used ‘dash to hospital’ cover story in cathedral plot
THE Liverpool suicide bomber may have been running late, so invented an emergency hospital dash as cover to get to a Remembrance Day service on time.
Investigators are now working on the theory that in his rush to get out of the taxi, Emad al-swealmeen accidentally set off the bomb’s detonator, creating a fireball inside the taxi that killed him, but the main bomb did not explode.
The version of events explains why Swealmeen, 32, who had Syrian and Iraqi heritage, ordered a taxi for Liverpool Women’s Hospital to avoid arousing suspicion.
The Daily Telegraph understands that he told the taxi firm he needed emergency transport to the maternity ward. Counter-terrorism police and intelligence agencies remain unsure of to Swealmeen’s motives but believe the taxi ride to the hospital was undertaken to disguise his real destination.
“Swealmeen didn’t book the taxi the night before and when he got in asked to be taken quickly to the hospital,” said a source. “He might have deliberately gone somewhere nearby the cathedral. If you think of a destination you can tell a taxi driver to take you to quickly, then a hospital is a good one.”
CCTV footage suggests the taxi was driving up to the hospital reception “pretty quickly”, said sources, before coming to an “abrupt halt”. David Perry, the taxi driver who survived the attack with minor injuries, has given full statements to police. If the theory is correct, the likelihood is Swealmeen planned to blow up military veterans and dignitaries in what will be considered an Islamist attack. The motive has been obscured because in 2017 Swealmeen converted to Christianity but it is suspected his “conversion” was an attempt to bolster a failed asylum application.
Police said yesterday that Swealmeen bought components for his bomb using a number of aliases. The bomb – similar but not identical to the bombs used in the 7/7 attacks on London in 2005 – contained ball bearings. Swealmeen was not on an MI5 watchlist, making it harder to spot such unusual purchases.
Police said yesterday they had spoken to the terrorist’s brother who “has given us an insight into his early years and an understanding of Swealmeen’s life and his recent state of mind, which is an important line of investigation”.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, head of counter-terrorism police North West, said: “Although there is much scientific work to do on the device, we have learned … it was made using homemade explosive and had ball bearings attached to it which would have acted as shrapnel. Had it detonated in different circumstances we believe it would have caused significant injury or death.
“We do not know how or why the device exploded, but we are not discounting it being unintentional and … that the movement of the vehicle or its stopping caused the ignition.”
‘If you think of a destination you can tell a taxi driver to take you to quickly, then a hospital is a good one’