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Nailbomber 'targeted shoppers to avenge Muslims'
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent15 Oct 2008
This is the terrifying moment when would-be suicide bomber Nicky Reilly brings his bombs into a crowded Exeter restaurant.
He can be seen in the hooped top walking through the door, with his rucksack containing the homemade devices over his right shoulder.
Reilly, 22, a convert to Islam, was targeting “ordinary citizens” in revenge for the perceived persecution of Muslims.
Far from resembling an extreme Islamic terrorist, he is clean shaven and wearing a short-sleeved polo shirt like any ordinary resident or tourist.
He turns no heads as he makes his way across the restaurant floor and heads for the toilets where he intended to prime his lethal bombs.
Suddenly three bangs can be heard from the toilet area where Reilly's caustic soda-based bombs have ignited prematurely before he can even open the cubicle door.
Customers flee in shock and panic before finally the police lead away Reilly, who suffered severe facial injuries from his own weapons.
The CCTV images of the attempted attack in May this year were released after Reilly today pleaded guilty to attempted murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
The hunt continues for two unidentified co-conspirators who his mother Kim today claimed had “brainwashed” her son into carrying out the attack.
Reilly — charged under the name he adopted, Mohamed Saeed-Alim — had contacted the pair through the website Chechen 233, the court heard.
He also studied a large number of extremist websites and a YouTube video titled “home-made bomb”.
He considered targeting a police station and shopping centre in Plymouth and the Devonport Royal Navy dockyard. Finally it was decided that members of the public in the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter should die in his martyrdom. Detectives believe the unidentified plotters may have fled the country after the botched attack.
Details of the would-be suicide bombing were revealed by Mr Justice Calvert-Smith at the Old Bailey. The judge, who will pass sentence next month, told the court that Reilly converted to Islam at the age of 16 in around 2002 and changed his name twice.
Reilly had attended mosques and community centres in Plymouth after his conversion.
“He was increasingly drawn to violent action in support of fellow Muslims in revenge for perceived persecution,” said the judge. “He bought all the necessary equipment to construct two types of improvised devices including caustic soda and kerosene... putting the chemicals in glass bottles and filling them with a total of 500 nails.
“He travelled to Exeter on the morning of 22 May by bus from Plymouth with six bottles — three containing caustic soda and three kerosene — and another chemical. He prepared the caustic soda devices in the toilets of the Giraffe restaurant but they began to explode and he was injured.”
Defence counsel Kerim Faud told the court Reilly suffered “extreme distress and facial carnage” in the explosion.
Reilly will undergo examination by a psychiatrist before sentencing.
Kim Reilly told the BBC: “Somebody has brainwashed him, he has done the work and they are walking free.” She said her son was vulnerable, and suffered from Asperger's syndrome.
He began to change because of “all the people who he was hanging around with”. Assistant chief constable Debbie Simpson of Devon and Cornwall Police said: “There is no doubt that his intention was to kill and seriously injure many members of the public.”
She said there were 24 members of the public and 11 staff in the restaurant at the time, and a further 20 diners outside. “This was a criminal act calculated to cause harm,” she said.
The police said they had received nothing but co-operation from the Islamic community.
Police also confirmed that an ongoing investigation has resulted in the arrest of three people.
