Bluewater bomb’ plotter ‘still a risk
JIHADI IS DENIED PAROLE
ONE of the UK’S most dangerous terrorists has been denied parole because of fears he may commit more crimes.
Jawad Akbar, 38, planned to blow up Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and set off a radioactive “dirty” bomb in 2004.
The attacks could have killed hundreds of people.
In 2007 he was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17-and-a-half years.
Akbar had a parole hearing last month – but his bid has now been rejected.
A Parole Board spokesman said: “We can confirm a panel refused the release of Jawad Akbar. Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.” Laws passed in 2020 block the early release of terrorists, who used to be freed halfway through their sentences. Cases must now be reviewed by the Parole Board – and Akbar’s is one of the first under the new rules.
He was one of a gang of five linked to Al-qaeda who were all jailed for life. Their trial was told they aimed to plant a huge device at Bluewater – almost identical to one used by Oklahoma City bomber Tim Mcveigh, who killed 168 people in 1995. The judge told them: “You were determined to cause indiscriminate death, injury and suffering.”
Akbar, from Crawley, West Sussex, and believed to be in HMP The Mount, Herts, can apply for another Parole Board hearing in two years.
You were determined to cause death, injury and suffering