Police warned of Exeter bomber's fantasy

POLICE were told city bomber  Nicky Reilly had fantasised  about creating an explosive device — but they failed to act on  the information.

A psychiatrist who treated  Reilly told the makers of a BBC  documentary entitled Generation Jihad that his client told  him he wanted to build a bomb  and kill people.

 He claims he went on to  warn Devon & Cornwall Police  but, in a statement, a  spokesman confirmed they  chose not to speak to Reilly.

 Hundreds of people were  evacuated and Exeter city centre was locked down after the  bomber attempted to launch  an attack on The Giraffe  restaurant in Princesshay in  May 2008.

 About 15 diners and staff fled  the building and police immediately threw a cordon  around the area and evacuated  shops and offices in Southernhay and Dix’s Field.

More than 100 police officers  were deployed onto the streets  of Exeter after the bomb exploded in the toilets in Reilly’s  hands.

Reilly, of Plymouth, who  changed his name to Mohammad Abdulaziz Rashid  Saeed-Alim, was given 18 years  in prison for the attempted  attack after he pleaded guilty  at the Old Bailey to attempting  to detonate bombs filled with  about 500 nails.

 In a statement, Reilly’s  mother Kim said she felt police  should have followed up the  warning and that, had they  done so, the incident may have  been prevented.

 Devon & Cornwall Police  said Reilly was not perceived  to be “high risk” and they had  no evidence that he was likely  to become capable of making a  bomb.

 In a statement, police said:  “In 2003, during a consultation  with a psychiatrist, Nicky  Reilly suggested he wanted to  study engineering to make a  bomb.

“This was reported to the  police and Special Branch who  looked at the intelligence and  assessed the information — as  is usual with any such information like this.

“Reilly was not perceived to  be high risk and this was  thought to have been a one-off  comment.

“Systems such as the Government’s Prevent strategy,  which have been implemented  since 2003, look at intelligence  like this, but Reilly was not a  person of interest and gave no  other cause for concern.

“As part of Prevent, should  there have been any further  cause for concern, he would  have been part of a review  process.

“From the information at  that time, there was no indication that Reilly was, or was  likely to become, capable of  making a bomb.”