Hospital terror alert over man with gun and suspect device
Patients evacuated at dawn as bomb disposal experts called to incident outside maternity department
A MAN carrying a firearm and a suspect package was arrested in the grounds of St James’s University Hospital in Leeds yesterday prompting a counter-terrorism investigation.
The 27-year-old was detained at about 5am close to the maternity department on suspicion of firearms and explosives offences.
Late last night he was re-arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Part of the hospital was evacuated and Army bomb disposal teams were drafted in. A police spokesman said: “Counter Terrorism Policing North East has now taken responsibility for leading this investigation.
“Extensive inquiries are under way to establish the full circumstances of the incident and any potential motivation.”
It is understood the weapon was an airgun. A fter the alarm was raised, the hospital declared a critical incident, with patients being moved out of wards and into corridors away from windows.
Specialist officers attended the scene and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Logistics Corp based at Catterick, in North Yorkshire, were also called in and officers wearing protective suits were seen in the hospital grounds.
Forensics experts were seen examining a car parked in the grounds and a red holdall lying next to a bench just yards from the entrance to the hospital.
Police said a number of addresses believed to be linked to the suspect were also being searched last night in the Leeds area. Counter-terrorism detectives, along with the security services, said they were trying to establish potential reasons for the man’s actions.
They are thought to be scouring the suspect’s mobile phone and checking his social media for clues to his mindset.
The incident comes just over a year after a terrorist attack on a maternity hospital in Liverpool in which a suspected jihadist blew himself up in a taxi outside the unit. Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, who came to the UK from Iraq as an asylum seeker, died when the device he was carrying exploded on Remembrance Sunday in 2021.
One security source said last night: “The investigation is still in its very early stages but any suggestion of the presence of a firearm is extremely concerning indeed. The fact the arrest took place in the grounds of a hospital is also very worrying and the police will want to establish as quickly as possible what was going on here.
“Within hours of the suspect being arrested it was confirmed that the investigation was being led by counter-terror police and that is significant because in other incidents it has taken some time for that to happen.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “This is being treated as an isolated incident and there is no evidence to suggest there is any heightened or ongoing risk to the public.
“Nevertheless, the UK threat level remains at Substantial and we would always encourage the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity or behaviour to police in confidence.” St James’s University Hospital, which is known as Jimmy’s, is Europe’s largest teaching hospital and has almost 1,000 beds. News of the arrest prompted concern among relatives of patients who were advised to phone a helpline set up in the wake of the incident.
Steve Bush, the hospital’s medical director, also posted a video online to reassure anyone who was concerned about developments.
It is thought counter-terrorism procedures were reviewed at all hospitals in the wake of the Liverpool incident.
A patient in his 70s who was housed on the first floor of the hospital said: “I was woken up at 5am, and told there was a suspicious package. We were taken to what they call the departure pod and had to stay there. There were about six of us. We heard there was a device in the back of a car.” The hospital’s A&E unit remained open throughout the incident.
After the terror scare Mr Bush said: “Patients who were evacuated are being moved back to their wards. It may be some time before we are back to business as usual in these areas, so please bear with us. Unfortunately some patient appointments were cancelled as a result of today’s incident and we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused – these will be rearranged as soon as possible.”
♦a teenage terrorist has admitted planning to blow up a court, police station and an army barracks. Matthew King, 19, of Wickford, Essex, staked out potential venues in Stratford, east London, last year, the Old Bailey heard. He will be sentenced on April 14.
‘I was woken and told there was a suspicious package – we went to what they called the departure pod’