A Muslim convert yesterday admitted launching a failed suicide bomb attack on a busy family restaurant.
A Muslim convert yesterday admitted launching a failed suicide bomb attack on a busy family restaurant.
Nicky Reilly, 22, pled guilty at the Old Bailey to attacking the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter.
Reilly, who appeared under the name Mohammad Rashid Saeed Alim, used the internet to research how to make bombs using caustic soda, paraffin and nails. But when he attempted to assemble one of the soft drink bottle bombs in the toilet of the restaurant it exploded in his hands.
Reilly, of King Street, Plymouth, was arrested when he staggered outside after suffering facial injuries in the blast on May 22. Counter-terrorist police are still hunting for two men who encouraged Reilly via an extremist website, the Old Bailey heard.
Reilly also considered bombing Charles Street Police Station in Plymouth, a shopping centre and the Devon-port Dockyard, judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said.
Police recovered pictures of six bombs taken at Reilly's home before he travelled by bus to Exeter.
Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said Reilly began to plan the attack in early 2008 and researched how to purchase materials for a suicide vest.
He said: "During the early months of 2008 he was in frequent touch with apparently two other people as yet unidentified with whom he discussed his plans and from whom he received encouragement and information over the internet.
"There was some debate about what sort of person should be targeted, whether public servants such as police officers or other public servants or ordinary citizens. In the end the decision was made to target ordinary citizens in a restaurant.
"He appears to have tried to increase the potential for injury and death both to himself and others by putting chemicals in glass bottles and filling those bottles with a total of around 500 nails.
"He travelled to Exeter on the morning of May 22, with six bottles, three containing caustic soda, three kerosene and another chemical contained in drain cleaner. As he prepared the caustic soda devices in the toilet of the restaurant they began to explode. He was subsequently arrested and injured himself."
Reilly, who appeared in court via a video link, and was treated as a vulnerable adult in police interviews, pled guilty to preparing a terrorist attack and attempted murder. He was remanded in custody for sentencing at the Old Bailey on November 21.
The judge said the defendant "long nursed an ambition" to become a martyr.
He said: "There is evidence that he became increasingly drawn to violent action in support of fellow Muslims in revenge for perceived persecution and to the idea of him becoming a martyr."
