A 'quiet' and 'polite' pizza chef who was secretly plotting a deadly terrorist attack outside a hospital in Liverpool has left many unanswered questions surrounding what led him to the failed bombing. For months, Emad Al Swealmeen devised a horrific plan to compose a lethal device which he finally carried out on November 17, 2021 after he planted a bomb in a taxi, yards from the entrance of Liverpool Women's Hospital in Crown Street, Toxteth.
Thankfully, his attack did not cause much damage and no one died in the blast apart from the bomber himself, Al Swealmeen, the Liverpool Echo reports. The only other person that was left wounded was the taxi driver, David Perry who miraculously survived without any life changing injuries.
The seemingly ordinary 32-year-old was renting a property in Rutland Avenue, Sefton Park which he was using as his "bomb factory" while he stayed at a property in Sutcliffe Street, Kensington in accommodation built for asylum seekers. A year on the from terrifying incident Counter Terrorism Policing are still not sure what led to Al Swealmeen's bizarre actions.
Counter Terrorism Policing North West told the ECHO Al Swealmeen's motive "remains a mystery" as they indicated that he didn't leave behind anything that suggested what was going on inside his mind. However, an inquest into his death did find that Al Swealmeen had asked his brother, who lives in America, what his family would think if he did "something bad" but he didn't elaborate.
It's been confirmed that Al Swealmeen had serious mental health issues at points in his life and he was sectioned in 2015 after being convicted of possessing a knife in the city centre. Court documents also stated that Al Swealmeen had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which governs most of the city's specialist mental health care, revealed he was not receiving specialist treatment when he carried out the bombing. Another potential source that might have driven him to the terrorist attack was his long running asylum claim after he arrived in the UK in 2015 from Iraq via Dubai and was denied leave to remain.
He challenged the Home Office decision by submitting an appeal with the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) but this was dismissed the same year.In that application it came to light that Al Swealmeen, born in Baghdad had lied about his ethnicity and claimed he was 'Syrian" so Home Office officials decided he had not established a "well-founded fear of persecution so that he did not qualify for asylum".
The court papers stated he was aware of the "decision to remove him from the United Kingdom". The judge noted there were "a number of problems" with his evidence and, considering Al Swealmeen's credibility, said: "I find that the appellant has attempted to give an account to put himself in the best light
"In view of all the evidence, I reject his account of events in Syria and his fears on his return in their entirety, and dismiss his asylum appeal." The timeline of Al Swealmeen's legal battles are muddled but he had made new appeals in 2020 and despite not having the right to work in the UK, he was accidentally provided with a National Insurance Number by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which made it a lot easier for him to work illegally.
He was employed as a pizza chef at a Sefton takeaway, where his former boss described him as "polite and hardworking". Another potential motive behind the bombing which detectives will have investigated is religious extremism however like many things about Al Swealmeen's life, his religious beliefs were also not entirely clear.
He officially converted to Christianity after he moved to the UK via a course at Liverpool Cathedral and was taken in by Christian Aigburth couple, Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott who sheltered him for a period of time. Mr Hitchcott later told reporters: "I mean he lived here for eight months, and we were living cheek by jowl.
"There was never any suggestion of anything amiss". The couple who described the bomber as "artistic and creative", revealed how Al Swealmeen had finished a cake decorating course at Liverpool College and was "obsessed with motor racing".
Despite his conversion to Christianity, officers discovered a Koran and a prayer mat in his property, which implies the ''conversion'' was either put on to help him with his asylum claim or he had changed his mind about his new religious beliefs. Police were also left questioning that if Al Swealmeen had been a scheming religious extremist that was fantasising of carrying out a terrorist attack, why did he bother claiming asylum and why did he wait six years to do it.
What has been confirmed however is that in 201 Al Swealmeen began plotting to devise a bomb with 2,000 ball bearings which only purpose would be to cause as much damage to as many people as possible. At an inquest into his death also heard that he had been previously imprisoned in the Middle East for a serious assault, proving that he was entirely capable of violence.
Counter Terrorism Policing North West have said that their investigation remains open although detectives are confident that nobody else played any part in Al Swealmeen's terrorist plot. More information will be released publicly at the end of that investigation.
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