Muslim convert pleads guilty to failed suicide bomb attack on Exeter restaurant » Communities » 24dash.com

A Muslim convert today admitted launching a failed suicide bomb attack on a busy family restaurant.

Nicky Reilly, 22, pleaded 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 cubicle of the restaurant it exploded in his hands.

Reilly, of King Street, Plymouth, was arrested when he staggered outside after suffering serious facial injuries in the blast on May 22.

Reilly appeared in court via a video link. He was wearing a smart blue shirt and tie.

He pleaded guilty to two of four charges on the indictment.

He admitted attempted murder at the Giraffe restaurant in May.

He also admitted engaging in preparation for terrorism in that he researched targets and how to make bombs and prepared three of them in the restaurant.

Two charges under the Explosives Act were not put to him because prosecutor Stuart Baker told the court that they were alternatives to the more serious charges.

Kerim Fuad, defending, told the judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith: "His plan was to run out of the cubicle with all three bombs."

Reilly was remanded in custody for sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday, November 21.

Mr Fuad told the judge that he wanted to present a statement and a psychiatric report for the court.

Mr Fuad said: "There is much I wish to advance on behalf of this defendant's unusual and complex personal background which led to this ugly and dangerous incident."

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith told the court Reilly had also considered targeting a Plymouth police station and Devonport dockyard.

He said the defendant was supported by two unidentified people who contacted him via an extremist website.

The judge said: "There is evidence from materials seized that he became increasingly drawn to violent action in support of fellow Muslims in revenge for perceived persecution and to the idea of himself personally becoming a martyr.

"He told the police that he had long nursed an ambition to become a martyr."

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said: "It was only in early 2008 that he began to conduct research into how to carry out what eventually took place on May 22, including the purchase, initially, of a suicide vest.

"He reconnoitred a number of other places, including a police station in Charles Street, Plymouth, a shopping centre in Plymouth, and the Devonport Dockyard.

"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 a certain amount of encouragement and information over the internet using a website called Chechen233.

"There was some debate, which is revealed by comments on the computer, about what sort of person should be targeted in due course, 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 bought more than necessary equipment over those months to construct two types of improvised devices, one using caustic soda and the other kerosene.

"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, obviously by bus from Plymouth, 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, as the world knows, arrested and injured himself."