Terrorist hospital worker ready to 'kill as many nurses as possible' with bomb plot found guilty

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A man has been found GUILTY of plotting to bomb a hospital in Leeds with the hope of 'killing as many nurses as possible'. Mohammad Farooq, 28, has been standing trial at Sheffield Crown Court and was unanimously found guilty of the single charge of preparing an act of terrorism today (July 2).

He had previously admitted firearms offences, possessing an explosive substance with intent and having a document likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism, LeedsLive reports. READ MORE: Jay Slater's parents pictured leaving Tenerife police station During the trial, jurors heard Farooq had been planning to "seek his own martyrdom" through a "murderous terrorist attack" by detonating the bomb at St James' Hospital, then killing as many people as possible with knives before using an imitation firearm to incite police to shoot him dead.

Opening the trial last month, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said Farooq had immersed himself in an "extremist Islamic ideology" and that his "plan A" had been to attack RAF Menwith Hill, which is a base in North Yorkshire used by the United States. "When he thought that was not possible, his 'plan B' was to attack St James Hospital, a softer and less well-protected target than a military base," Mr Sandiford said.

Farooq was a clinical support worker at the hospital and his "secondary motive" for choosing it as a target was that he had a grievance against several of his former colleagues and had been conducting a poison pen campaign against them, jurors were told.