Ahmed Hassan, 18, allegedly told a charity worker his father was killed in Iraq and the Americans were to blame
The 18-year-old Parsons Green bomber told a charity worker his father was killed in Iraq and the Americans were to blame, a court was told today.
Asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan arrived in Britain in October 2015, two years before he left 400g of TATP on a London Underground District line train, which partially exploded, the Old Bailey heard.
Barnardo’s worker Youseff Habibi said he caught Hassan listening to an Arabic song on YouTube along the lines of ‘coming to the slaughter in your own home’ when he was living in a children’s home in Surrey.
On the defendant’s dealings with Islamic State, he told jurors: ‘He did say that he had been taken by force and they threatened if he did not go to the mosque his family would be killed.
‘He used to spend a lot of time in the mosque studying and sometimes he trained with them to fight.’
Asked about Hassan’s background, Mr Habibi said: ‘His father was a taxi driver and one morning he went to work and a bomb fell on him and he died.
A photograph of the smoke-ridden District line carriage shortly after the device exploded
Hassan allegedly packed a bucket with TATP explosives and shrapnel and left it on the train
Ahmed Hassan is pictured waiting at the Port of Dover in Kent after arriving there by train
Hassan is pictured on board a Southern train to Brighton after the incident on the Tube
‘And his mum died when he was much younger. He said ‘I don’t remember my mum’.’
Prosecutor Alison Morgan asked: ‘Did Mr Hassan ever say who he blamed for that?’
Mr Habibi replied: ‘America.’ He said it was American soldiers and American army bombing.
The witness told jurors that Hassan said he had not been tortured by IS but he hated the group and they killed and tortured people.
Barnardo’s care home worker Zoe Spencer accompanied Hassan to an immigration interview at Lunar House in Croydon in January 2016.
Miss Spencer told jurors that when Hassan arrived in Britain he could speak little English but was keen to learn.
The kitchen timer used as an initiator mechanism, in addition to a battery and a halogen bulb
Hassan allegedly took the largest Tupperware container, pictured above, from his foster parents’ kitchen to store the 300g of TATP which made up the main charge for the device
The contents of the ‘Mother of Satan’ bomb allegedly prepared by Hassan then put on the Tube
In addition to nuts and bolts, he is accused of placing knives inside the device to be shrapnel
Hassan, who was living with foster parents at the time, is pictured using a cash machine
She said for a then 16-year-old he appeared ‘very mature’ for his age.
She said: ‘He told me he fled the country, that his uncle paid someone to get him in a lorry and his parents were involved in a car crash.’
Miss Spencer said Hassan was ‘agitated, worried and quiet’ before the immigration interview.
Officials asked Hassan: ‘Have you previously or are you any part of a terrorist group, for example, Isis?’
He replied: ‘Yes I was recruited by Isis for three months.’
Miss Spencer told the court Hassan had never mentioned anything like that before to her.
Shrapnel would be ‘ejected at high speed’ to ‘increase the potential for harm’ the jury was told
Other items Hassan is said to have piled into the explosive included screwdrivers
The device ‘has the potential to cause damage to property and or serious harm’, the jury heard
The scene of devastation was left behind after the device partially detonated on the train
Asked how she felt about it, she said: ‘Disheartened, sickened, as if he did not understand the question so I stopped the interview.’
During a second interview with an interpreter, Hassan added that he had been ‘forced’ to go with Isis.
He said: ‘I was forced to train with them on how to kill and they would teach us about the religion and what Allah believes is right.’
Hassan said he was trained with about 1,000 people and spent three or four hours in the mosque daily.
He got away when Iraqi soldiers came into Isis territory and told everyone to go, and some children stayed and some went back to their families, he said.
He denied he had been sent to Europe to work for Isis.
Miss Spencer said Hassan was ‘very nervous’ afterwards and told her he was not okay, adding the man at the interview was ‘no good’.
Hassan is said to have gone to a Sports Direct in Ashford where bought a backpack and clothes
Hassan had not dried out the bomb-making chemicals before use, an expert said
The suspected bomber is pictured in Dover in September after travelling from London by train
CCTV cameras caught the moment the Hassan was arrested at the Port of Dover in Kent
The suspected bomber was captured as he was placed in the back of a waiting police van
About a week later, Miss Spencer saw Hassan looking at a picture of people in balaclavas with guns and the black flag of Isis.
Tim Moloney QC, defending, suggested Miss Spencer might have mistaken Hassan with another resident with a phone, but she denied it.
Hassan, now 18, allegedly packed a bucket with TATP explosives and shrapnel and left it on the District Line train on September 15 last year.
It partially exploded causing a fireball to rip through a carriage during the morning rush hour, the Old Bailey has heard.
When Hassan was picked up by police at the port of Dover the next day, he admitted he had made the bomb.
Hassan, who was living with foster parents in Sunbury at the time, has denied attempted murder and using the chemical compound TATP to cause an explosion that was likely to endanger life.
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