MAY 22, 2008, saw Exeter make headlines at home and abroad as the city was targeted by a would-be suicide bomber.

Thousands of people were evacuated when an explosive device went off in the toilets of crowded city centre restaurant Giraffe at 12.50pm.

Shoppers watched in horror as the blood-soaked bomber was led from the restaurant in Princesshay before a second device was found by police and made safe.

Police revealed the 22-year- old suspect, Nicky Reilly, from Plymouth, was a recent convert to Islam and had changed his name to Mohammed.

Less than 24 hours after the incident, defiant shoppers were back out in force. Police said had the explosive devices recovered from the restaurant been detonated successfully, they would have caused "significant injury".

Reilly was later charged with terrorist and explosive offences and remanded in custody.

He pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey next month.

Exeter also found itself in the national headlines when local friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, Jane Tanner and her partner, Russell O'Brien, were re-interviewed by Portuguese police about the case of missing four-year-old Madeleine.

The pair were part of the so-called 'Tapas Nine' who were having dinner together on the night Madeleine disappeared from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

Ms Tanner has told how she had seen a man carrying a sleeping child away from the apartments a mere 45 minutes before Mrs McCann discovered her daughter was missing.

Exeter also hit the headlines when it became a battleground in May with the Grecians bidding for promotion, while the city's politicians fought for seats in Exeter's local election.

City reached the play-off final at Wembley and around 20,000 supporters flocked to London to cheer their team on to a 1-0 victory against Cambridge United.

The win sealed their return to the Football League after five years in the non-league wilderness. A victory parade was later held in Exeter to honour the players with a heroes' welcome.

There wasn't cause for celebration in the Labour Party though after it lost its position as the largest party on Exeter City Council. The Liberal Democrats became the largest party, pushing Labour into third place. Lib Dem group chief Adrian Fullam was later appointed as the new leader of the authority.

Brave Royal Marines of 40 Commando came home after a six-mouth tour of duty in Afghanistan. Sadly, three soldiers from Plymouth, Dorset and Taunton, did not return.

In planning news, the first view of what a new £70,000 work of art could look like on the side of a building in Heavitree's busy Fore Street was unveiled — and many of you weren't impressed, and still aren't.

Better received news was the opening of new primary school Exwick Heights. The £8.5m school opened on time and on budget and was described as the biggest and most technically demanding primary school construction project ever undertaken in Devon.

Teachers went on strike for the first time in 22 years over pay and conditions. The one-day mass protest closed most city schools and parents voiced their anger, some over its timing when hundreds of youngsters were preparing for their Sats exams.

It wasn't a good time of the year for motorists. The price of petrol passed the £5-a-gallon mark then fuel shortages hit the country after tanker drivers went on strike.

Scenes of anger and chaos were reported in the city as desperate drivers looked for fuel. Anger escalated when Foxhayes Garage in Exwick hiked its fuel up to £1.99 a litre. But it wasn't all bad news for motorists. Major road and water works in Heavitree, which gridlocked traffic around the city, finished ahead of schedule.

In health news, a damning report was released over serious complaints about patient care at Whipton Hospital.

The complaints, including low levels of cleanliness and poor communication, were upheld by the Healthcare Commission. The watchdog made 30 recommendations as a result of a review.

Animal cruelty stories shocked readers. A constant vigil was kept over the seal which made its home in the River Exe after he was tormented by youths throwing objects. After numerous failed attempts to move him to safety, he finally left of his own accord.

A large boa constrictor was found burned to death at a play park in St Thomas's Flowerpot Fields, and a supermarket trolley was thrown into a swan's nest in a deliberate attempt to smash its eggs. Elsewhere, a massive swarm of more than 15,000 bees stunned shoppers when they touched down in Exeter city centre.

The swarm, roughly a metre in diameter and around an inch thick, set up camp underneath a table outside Bella Italia for several hours.

A more welcome visitor was Prime Minister Gordon Brown who made a surprise visit to congratulate staff at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital for meeting strict waiting list targets.

Then it was the turn of a royal visit from the Duchess of Cornwall who met children at the West of England School and College for children with little or no sight and went to the opening day of yet another wet Devon County Show.

Court stories included scissor-wielding double rapist Abdullah Al-Jaber who was found guilty of viciously attacking two teenagers visiting Exeter and later jailed for life.

The 31-year-old waiter, from the Lord Haldon Hotel, Dunchideock, near Exeter, denied six charges of raping a 18-year-old from Belarus and her 16-year-old Russian friend.

City lorry driver Scott Baldwin was jailed for six years for sending a text message when he caused a crash which killed a young father.

Ian Gregory, 22, was killed in the collision on the A30 in August 2007. Baldwin, 42, had sent or received 37 sexually explicit texts in the minutes leading up to the crash.

It prompted the Echo to launch its Hands Off! campaign, urging motorists to stop using mobile phones while driving.

Love triangle killer Francesco Matta was given a life sentence for the murder of Flight Lieutenant Stephen Keen.

The 56-year-old was found guilty of travelling from Italy to Tiverton to carry out a terrifying revenge knife attack on his estranged wife's new partner.

Susan Matta had moved in with her former teenage sweetheart after they got back in touch via the internet.

The city's crime hotspots were exclusively revealed under the Freedom of Information Act with St David's — which incorporates the city centre, having the highest crime rate. In 2007 2,784 incidents were recorded there. Newtown came second, and Priory third. Cowick had the lowest crime rate.

Exeter also came under the spotlight when the department of health identified the city as having some of the most deprived areas in Devon.

More bad news came the next day when Exeter was shamed as having some of the fattest children in Devon.