The terrorist attacker who died when his homemade bomb went off outside a Liverpool hospital had a grievance against the British state for rejecting his asylum claim, an investigation has revealed.
Emad Al Swealmeen was killed in the blast and subsequent fire in a taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in November 2021. The taxi driver, David Perry, managed to escape after the blast.
Counter Terrorism Policing North West said the attacker’s motive was “likely driven by anger towards the British state for repeated rejections of his asylum claim.”
“It seems most likely that Al Swealmeen’s grievance against the British state for failing to accept his asylum claim compounded his mental ill health which in turn fed that grievance and ultimately a combination of those factors led him to undertake the attack,” the report said.
Asylum Case
Mr. Al Swealmeen was planning his attack between March 2020 and November 2021. The exact motive for the attack remains unknown, said the report.
The attacker arrived in the UK in 2014, using his Jordanian passport. Six days into his visit, Mr. Al Swealmeen attended the Asylum Screening Unit in Croydon. He lied about being a Syrian national, telling the authorities he had fled Syria owing to the ongoing conflict.
The police noted that Mr. Al Swealmeen “went to considerable lengths in his efforts to stay in this country,” including his conversion to Christianity in 2015. The police remain doubtful about the authenticity of his conversion, after recovering a Qur’an and prayer mat from his flat.
Mr. Al Swealmeen failed to secure his asylum status and was facing deportation.
His mental health deterioration coincided with rejections from the Home Office in his asylum case. The police listed a number of incidents when Mr. Al Swealmeen reacted badly after receiving rejections from the Home Office.
In 2020 he told his GP that he felt suicidal and earlier in 2015 he took an overdose and was taken to Liverpool Hospital.
Recovered Evidence
For the majority of his stay in the UK, the attacker lived in government provided accommodation, which he shared with other asylum seekers. In April 2021, he moved to a private flat, which he rented and paid for in cash.“It is believed that he took the flat in order to build his explosive device without fear of detection by the authorities,” the report said.
When the police gained access to his flat, they found improvised explosive materials and his mobile phone. The police said that Mr. Al Swealmeen went “to considerable lengths to obfuscate his activities in preparing for the attack.”
Even though most of the contents of his phone had been erased, the police recovered some data that contained step by step instructions on how to make explosives.
She said the system had to change and criticised the “professional legal services industry” devoted to defending the rights of individuals intent on causing harm.
Last week, she said that millions of illegal immigrants are being incentivised to “try their luck” in a system that needs an international overhaul.
Ms. Braverman called for more internationally adopted scrutiny when decisions are made about who “qualifies for protection.”
