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.
It has been 188 days since Hassan was arrested, 183 days since he was charged and 182 since his first court appearance, meaning he has already been held in custody for more than six months.
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave is rising to consider his sentence and will return at 2pm
He says: "You have been found guilty of attempted murder on overwhelming evidence, this is an offence of attempted multiple murder."
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave is going through the facts of the attack that was carried out on 15 September, saying Hassan left his foster parents' home shortly after 7am.
"The Lidl bag must have looked innocuous enough to the people, including children, who passed you, but in fact the contents were sinister and dangerous."
The judge says the bomb contained 400g of the explosives TATP, also known as the 'mother of satan', which "has increasingly become the explosive of choice for terrorists."
It was surrounded by shrapnel and Hassan was carrying an intiator with a timer in his pocket.
"You planned to kill as many members of the British public as possible...and then escape to the continent via Dover according to a pre-arranged plan."
The judge says Hassan was making "a conscious effort to act casually and blend into the crowd...you knew that minutes later your IED would go off - killing, you hoped, dozens of people on the Tube."
There were around 93 people in the carriage when it partially detonated in a fireball that rolled along the ceiling. Passengers were burned and showered in glass, with the panic causing a stampede. 23 passengers were burned and 28 were injured from the crush.
"Those in the rear of car six that day were very fortunate, things could easily have been so much worse," the judge says.
"Given the amount of TATP used and the shrapnel, had the device detonated as you designed and intended it, it is inevitable that there would have been numerous fatalities and many casualties...it is sheer luck that the main charge did not detonate."
It was most likely the result of the initiator moving out of place and failing to detonate the main charge, causing a "violent deflagration" instead of full explosion.
"I am satisfied that you were determined to create as much death and carnage that day as possible," the judge says.
He stole knives from Mr and Mrs Jones' kitchen and bought shrapnel from shops, chose a busy train and placed a pair of trousers over the top of the bag to conceal it and avoid the suspicion an abandoned rucksack would have caused.
"You wanted to save your own skin and were not prepared for shuhada, martyrdom."
The judge tells how Hassan switched his clothes four times in less than 24 hours, had £2,300 in cash and had wiped his web history from his Mac laptop.
"It must have come as a great disappointment for you to see that the IED you so carefully created had not operated has intended and the carnage you wanted had not occurred."
Police officers in Dover recognised Hassan from a wanted appeal and arrested him at Dover port
"It is telling that you started shaking...and complaining your rucksack should not be placed on the ground because it had the Quran in it, you are clearly very religious."
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said the attack had been life-changing for many victims and had a long-lasting emotional impact.
Hassan claimed to be 16 when he arrived in Dover but his tutor thought he was "physically and mentally older".
"I am satisfied that you lied about your date of birth in order to gain special priviledges afforded to children entering the UK"
The judge says Hassan was motivated by"a mindset of Isis extremism" - a hatred of Britain and America, which he blamed for his father's death, the continued bombing of Iraq
He says Hassan led a "double life" and "cynically exploited" the system that offered him sanctuary and education at Brooklands College.
He says it was a "remarkable act of cynicism" to use an award for being "student of the year" to buy explosives ingredients.