Leeds hospital pressure bomb plotter jailed for life over bid 'to kill as many nurses as possible'

Student nurse Mohammad Farooq was today told he will serve a minimum of 37 years in prison after taking a pressure cooker bomb into St James’s Hospital in Leeds

A student nurse who took a viable pressure cooker bomb into a hospital intending to kill as many nurses as possible, has been jailed for life.

Mohammad Farooq was today told he will serve a minimum of 37 years in prison, when he was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court. The 29-year-old was arrested outside the maternity ward of St James’s Hospital in Leeds on January 20, 2023. He had shown a member of the public a gun and said that he "felt like killing everyone". When police arrived, Farooq, told officers he had a bomb.

Bomb disposal experts confirmed the home-made explosive was a viable device. A Gediz 9mm P.A.K. semi-automatic pistol, discovered to be an imitation, was also discovered nearby. Farooq’s car was located at the hospital and items including a quantity of nails, a knife, five plastic tubs containing low explosive mixture and a floor plan of four hospital wards were found.

The court heard the lone-wolf would-be attacker was "talked down" by patient Nathan Newby outside the hospital. Mr Newby's evidence during the trial was "the most remarkable the court has ever heard", outlining how Farooq told him how he planned to kill people, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said. She added that Mr Newby's actions "prevented an atrocity".

Praising Mr Newby, who talked him Farooq out of exploding his home-made device, which would have been to be twice as powerful as those used by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers.

The judge said: "He's an extraordinary, ordinary man whose decency and kindness on January 20, 2023, prevented an atrocity in a maternity wing of a major British hospital."

She said Mr Newby was a "modest and gentle man whose evidence was among the most remarkable this court has ever heard". During sentencing, the judge said "nearly 10kg of explosives" had been put inside the pressure cooker.

She said: "You were disillusioned in your own life, both personally and professionally, having failed to achieve the standard of work to become a nurse." The judge added that he wanted to "detonate the bomb when the canteen was full of nurses and walk out".

Farooq, who was described as being on the autism spectrum by his defence team, had watched "anti-West propaganda" on Tiktok and downloaded terrorist handbooks, including one on how to make a bomb, the court heard.

He was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism by a jury on July 2, 2024. He also previously pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, possession of an explosive substance in suspicious circumstances, possession of information likely to be useful to a terrorist, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Head of the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division, Bethan David, said: “Farooq is an extremely dangerous individual who amassed a significant amount of practical and theoretical information that enabled him to produce a viable explosive device.

“He then took that homemade explosive device to a hospital where he worked with the intention to cause serious harm. Examination of his electronic devices revealed a hatred towards his colleagues at work and those he considered non-believers.

“It is clear from his internet searches that he was also conducting extensive research of RAF Menwith Hill, with a view to launching a potential attack. The extremist views Farooq holds are a threat to our society, and I am pleased the jury found him guilty of his crimes.”