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Britain
London Tube bomb accused Damon Smith claims it was a prank
2017-04-27
[BBC] A student has admitted building a bomb and leaving it on a Tube train but said it was for a prank, a court heard.
Rantburg's report of the gentleman's arrest can be found here.
Damon Smith denies making or possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life but at the Old Bailey he admitted perpetrating a bomb hoax.

The prosecution said Mr Smith intended the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to explode and endanger the lives of people on the Jubilee Line train.

Prosecutors said the IED contained ball bearings to act as shrapnel.

Jonathan Rees QC, for the prosecution, said this was to "increase the destructive effect of the device".

'Lost property'
At the start of the trial, Mr Rees said the defendant told police he had built a device which when activated was intended only to produce smoke.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
 the defendant added the ball bearings because he wanted to make it look like a real bomb so the train would be stopped and it would be reported on the news, Mr Rees added.

The court heard the device was found by two passengers when Mr Smith got off the train at London Bridge station last October.

They handed it to a driver, Adrian Clarke, who initially thought it was for lost property but then, as he drove to North Greenwich, realised it contained two wires coming out of the back of a clock, the court heard.

The court heard the student had moved to Rotherhithe in south-east London with his mother from Newton Abbot, Devon, when he started a computer forensics degree at London Metropolitan University.

The defendant has Asperger's syndrome, or Autism Spectrum Disorder
*sigh* Yes, another one.
as it was known, and has a keen interest in guns and other weapons that may have been a function of the condition, the court heard.

The prosecution said officers had found:
  • A blank self-loading pistol purchased in September 2016

  • A carbon-dioxide powered revolver designed to fire ball-bearings, a knife in a sheath and a knuckleduster

  • An examination of an iPad contained an image of the defendant standing in front of a TV screen showing a photograph of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, alleged to have criminal masterminded the attacks in Gay Paree in November 2015

  • This also contained images of him posing with guns and a shopping list for "pressure cooker bomb materials"

  • Shredded paper which when reconstructed was identified as being an article from an al-Qaeda online publication called Inspire first which gave details on how to build a pipe bomb

The court heard Mr Smith told police he had been brought up a Christian but was interested in Islam which he thought was "more true".

He did not really practise Islam, although he read the Koran and sometimes prayed in the morning when it was convenient but did not hold extreme views, the court heard.

Mr Rees said that on the day of the incident the defendant had started a timing mechanism on the device while he was at Southwark station, changing trains.

Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco...
 Mr Smith went to his university campus at Holloway and searched for news articles on the incident when he got home later, the court heard.

The trial continues.
Posted by:trailing wife

#3  Stick him in jail for 20 years as a prank.
Posted by: gorb   2017-04-27 14:51  

#2  Fire - crowded theater. No defense.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-04-27 10:20  

#1  Ass-burgers isn't a defense. Execute him.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2017-04-27 09:24  

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