Zahid Hussain built a bomb in his bedroom and was seen entering a drain near the London to Birmingham railway line after researching how to de-rail a train
An ISIS supporter who built a bomb using fairy lights to blow up a railway line has been jailed for life.
Zahid Hussain, 29, a former nightclub doorman, was caught on CCTV as he investigated a storm drain running under the mainline out of Birmingham to London as he scouted for possible targets.
His pressure cooker bomb was made using fairy lights, similar to the device which failed to detonate properly on a tube train in the unconnected attack at Parsons Green last month.
Former nightclub doorman Hussain had been researching guerilla warfare and sabotage techniques which advised the best point to plant a bomb in order to de-rail a train, the court heard.
He was handed a life sentence today and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years behind bars before he can apply for parole.
Hussain told police he had become ‘bedroom radicalised’ after watching Syrian war videos on Youtube.
He had turned his ground floor bedroom in Alum Rock, Birmingham into a ‘sort of improvised laboratory,’ the city’s crown court heard.
The bomb was made using modified Christmas tree fairy lights, like that used in Parsons Green
The court heard Hussain had turned his Birmingham home into an ‘improvised laboratory’
A modified doorbell was found in the room, with two wires which could be attached to detonators and then set off by remotely ringing the bell.
He had also built five ‘explosive igniters’ consisting of modified fairy lights, one of which had been tested.
In addition, Hussain had the materials required to make a large number of further igniters, the court heard.
Hussain had viewed hundreds of images relating to ISIS, violent military conflict and the men who set off a pressure cooker bomb at the Boston Marathon, the court heard.
He had been researching railway lines as possible targets and had drawn a map of the position of the storm drain, which he is thought to have wrongly believed went under the train track.
A resident near the drain entrance saw him coming and going at night and getting into the drain with a crowbar.
He built the device from a pressure cooker and chemicals after studying bomb-making online
He also rigged up a remote doorbell to the device, which he attached to detonators
Hussain believed he had successfully created a viable bomb, capable of causing, in his own words, ‘devastation’.
But he claimed he had only built the bomb in order to sell it to The Sun newspaper, for money and never intended to detonate it.
He was convicted of preparing for an act of terrorism after trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Since his arrest in 9 June 2015, Hussain has been held in a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act. He was charged with terrorism offences in June the following year.
Doctors disagreed over whether Hussain, who has been diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, should be sent to prison after being released from the mental health facility or get ongoing treatment before being released into the community.
Hussain is not connected to the Parsons Green attack, but a bomb with a similar design was used in the London tube incident last month
Hussain claims to have received subliminal messages through Twitter that told him to recover weapons hidden beneath manhole covers. He would only leave the house in the middle of the night to avoid detection.
Dr Philip Joseph, a consultant psychiatrist instructed by the prosecution, said he believed his psychosis was ‘probably connected to his heavy use of cannabis.’