A man who brought a homemade pressure cooker bomb into the hospital where he once worked was sentenced to at least 37 years in prison on Friday.
Mohammad Farooq, a former trainee nurse at RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, was found guilty after his trial last year.
During the hearing, Judge Cheema-Grubb commended Nathan Newby, who was a patient at the hospital, for persuading Farooq to abandon his plan for an Islamic State-inspired suicide attack. He described him as an “extraordinary man whose kindness and decency prevented an atrocity” at the hospital.
The judge noted that Farooq had intended to detonate the bomb when the hospital canteen was crowded, aiming to kill as many people as possible.
While the judge acknowledged that he exhibited traits of personality disorders and may have been experiencing depression, they stressed that these factors did not compel or cause his actions.
Experts say the bomb would have been twice as powerful as those used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Farooq was quickly arrested after revealing a gun outside the hospital’s maternity ward and declaring, “I felt like killing everyone.” Police later found a homemade bomb and a semi-automatic pistol nearby, though the gun was later determined to be a fake.
A search of his car uncovered a floor plan of the hospital wards, a knife, nails, and several plastic containers filled with an explosive mixture.
Investigators also discovered that Farooq had searched for information about RAF Menwith Hill multiple times online and had visited the site on two separate occasions. However, he denied that these visits were linked to his attack.
Messages found on his electronic devices revealed that he harbored hatred toward his colleagues and others he considered “non-believers.”
Authorities believe Farooq originally planned to target the military base but switched to the hospital as a “Plan B” after being unable to enter the base due to its high security.
Farooq ultimately took the explosive device to the hospital where he had once worked, intending to cause serious harm.
The jury was told that Farooq had become deeply involved in extremist Islamic ideology and had returned to his former workplace with the intention of achieving “martyrdom.”
He had denied terrorism charges last year but was later found guilty in trial.
