The Parsons Green Tube bomber has been sentenced to 34 years in prison

pulse

March 23, 2018 3:46 PM

Ahmed Hassan planted a home-made bomb on a District Line commuter train and it malfunctioned at Parsons Green station, London, last year.

Ahmed Hassan, 18, has been jailed for a bomb attack on the London Underground.
He was convicted of attempted murder last week for the September 2017 attack.
The bomb failed to explode properly, meaning victims were injured rather than killed.

The man who planted a bomb on a packed London Underground train last year has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for attempted murder.

Ahmed Hassan, 18, left a home-made explosive on a District Line service on the morning of September 15, 2017.

The device, stuffed with screws and shrapnel, exploded at Parsons Green station in West London, but failed to detonate fully.

As a result, it caused only minor injuries, rather than the mass casualties that a full detonation would have achieved.

Hassan, who came to Britain as a refugee from Iraq, was convicted of attempted murder last week at the Old Bailey criminal court in Central London. He was given his sentence on Friday.

Hassan received a life sentence, with a stipulation that he must serve at least 34 years before being eligible for reelase.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, told Hassan that he had been driven by his hatred of Britain, and that he cynically exploited the asylum and care systems to attack the country which gave him shelter.

Hassan left the bomb on the District Line train and got off one stop before it detonated, which Haddon-Cave said was because he was not mentally prepared for martyrdom, and preferred to "save your own skin."

After the explosion, Hassan tried to flee the country. He got as far as the departure lounge at Dover ferry port before he was arrested.

During his escape attempt, Hassan tried to evade detection by ditching his phone, breaking his memory card into tiny pieces, and hiding it on a bus, using only cash and changing outfits — but was still tracked down.

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