Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan jailed for life for terror attack - as it happened
Iraqi asylum seeker had denied intending to kill commuters in London
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The Iraqi asylum seeker who attempted to bomb a London Tube train has been jailed for life for the Parsons Green attack.
Ahmed Hassan packed his homemade device with 400g of explosives and metal shrapnel before leaving it to explode on the District Line on 15 September.
His bomb partially detonated, sending a fireball through the packed carriage during morning rush-hour, with 30 people injured by the flames and a stampede to escape the station.
"You have violated the Quran and Islam with your actions, as well as the law of all civilised people," Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told Hassan. "It is hoped that you will recognise this one day."
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Hassan denied attempting to kill commuters and told the court he launched the bombing to live out a fugitive fantasy after watching action films over the summer holidays.
But prosecutors argued he hated Britain because he blamed the country for the death of his father, who was killed in an explosion during the Iraq War.
After arriving in Britain hidden in a lorry from Calais in 2015, Hassan told immigration officials he had been kidnapped by Isis and “trained to kill” in his home country.
But he told the Old Bailey he had lied because he wanted to claim asylum and had no contact with Isis.
Hassan had been a model student at Brooklands College in Surrey, but used a £20 Amazon voucher awarded for being named “student of the year” to buy the necessary chemicals for the bomb.
He told a teacher who later saw a message on his phone claiming “IS has accepted your donation” that it was his “duty to hate Britain”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Hassan had never admitted a clear motive for the attack and that, perhaps due to his destruction of a phone and laptop, there was no evidence of him being inspired by Isis.
But an Independent investigation showed police had misinterpreted nasheeds – Islamic songs – found on a data stick in his bedroom and failed to identify them as official Isis propaganda.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing just hours after it was carried out via its Amaq News Agency, but the statement contained no details suggesting prior knowledge or contact with Hassan.
Hassan was reported to the Government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme on at least two occasions and authorities are investigating how he was still able to launch the attack.
Police said the “devious” teenager appeared to engage with the project while secretly plotting the terror attack.
Ben Wallace, the security minister, said there are “lessons to be learned” from the case but praised authorities for their work.
He added that the police and local council had conducted an internal review into the case and the Home Office will look at the findings to identify improvements.
↵The Parsons Green bomber, Ahmed Hassan, is to be sentenced at the Old Bailey for launching the terrorist attack on 15 September. He was convicted of attempted murder but Mr Justice Haddon-Cave will have the power to increase his jail term because of a 'terrorist connection'.
Yesterday, The Independent revealed how police missed evidence that Hassan supported Isis.
The sentencing hearing is now in session, with Hassan sitting with his head bowed in the dock.
The prosecution submits that the fact he has not been charged with a terror offence does not mean he did not commit with a terror attack: "The fact this defendant was not charged with a terrorism offence has no impact on the capability to treat it as an act of terrorism for the purposes of sentencing."
The prosecution says that Hassan's attack had an "ideological purpose" because of his hatred of Britain.
The prosecution are reading statements of victims - including some who are in court.
One woman tells how she now suffers from PTSD and flashbacks, regularly reliving the explosion and seeing Hassan's face. "I believed I was going to die," she says.
Stephen Nash said he also believed he would die in the explosion and is no longer able to use public transport, causing him to lose the job he had at the time of the attack.
Another man is unable to use Parsons Green Tube station, and one of the women injured has scars from the flames that may take up to two years to heal
Yahya Farroukh, another refugee who was fostered by the same couple as Hassan, has given a victim impact statement because the bomber wrongly named him as an accomplice, causing him to be arrested and receive huge media attention.
Hassan later admitted he knew nothing of the attack and was freed, but has since suffered the mental affects and is "nervous and scared all the time" about what others may think about him. He has been prescribed sleeping pills
Another woman who was badly burned said she "always thinks each day as the last" and cannot hear a fire alarm go off without becoming distressed.
One victim says "I haven't slept properly since it happened, I wake most mornings shaking and have the most frightful nightmares". She is "on edge" all the time, hyper-vigilant, anxious and has been able to return to work because of the psychological impact of the attack.
The prosecution says it is "not disputed that this offence should carry a term of life imprisonment".
There are questions about Hassan's age - the prosecutor Alison Morgan says he may have lied about his date of birth while entering the UK and is likely to be over 18 but under 21 years of age.
Ms Morgan is going through additional factors that could aggravate Hassan's sentence.
They include falsely implicating others - Mr Farroukh and a friend who unwittingly allowed bomb-making materials to be delivered to his home - in his guilt, and attempting to destroy evidence including his phone and laptop memory.