'Lone wolf terrorist' talked down from detonating bomb at St James Hospital, jury told

A man has gone on trial accused of planning to detonate a bomb outside St James's hospital in Leeds in January last year.

Opening the case at Sheffield Crown Court, prosecutors said Mohammad Farooq, 28, was a 'self-radicalised, lone wolf terrorist’ who planned to ‘kill as many nurses as possible’. He was allegedly stopped from carrying out the attack by a hospital patient who managed to 'talk him down'.

He was arrested with a pressure cooker bomb outside the Gledhow Wing in the early hours of 20th January.

Jonathan Sandiford KC said Farooq had immersed himself in an "extremist Islamic ideology", and that his original plan had been to attack RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, which is a military base used by the US.

Mr Sandiford said Farooq then moved onto his ‘plan B’, which was to attack St James Hospital, thinking this was a ‘softer and less well-protected target’.

Farooq was a clinical support worker at the hospital and prosecutors say his "secondary motive" for choosing it as a target was that he had a grievance against several of his former colleagues.

The jury was told how a hospital patient, Nathan Newby, noticed Farooq while standing outside the hospital smoking and thought ‘something was amiss’.

Mr Sandiford said: "That simple act of kindness almost certainly saved many lives that night because, as the defendant was later to tell the police officers who arrested him, Mr Newby succeeded in 'talking him down'.

"Mr Newby stayed with the defendant, keeping him engaged and calm.

"Mr Newby also persuaded the defendant to move away from the main entrance to a seating area so that the IED was as far away from the building as it was possible to go."

Jurors heard Farooq then gave his phone to Mr Newby to ring the police.

Officers who arrested Farooq found a "viable" pressure cooker bomb as well as two knives, black tape and an imitation firearm.

The court heard Farooq had become self-radicalised by accessing extremist material and propaganda online.

The defendant has admitted firearms offences, possessing an explosive substance with intent and having a document likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

He denies preparing acts of terrorism. Mr Sandiford said the defendant admits intending to attack St James Hospital but denies any intention to attack Menwith Hill.

The trial continues.