Car-mad Liverpool bomber called himself GT and was obsessed with Johnny Cash – he was no extremist, say pals
CAR-mad Emad Al-Swealmeen called himself GT and was obsessed with country singer Johnny Cash, former pals said last night.
They added the "really shy" go-karting fan was "no fanatic" and they are mystified as to what would have motivated him to launch a bomb attack at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday.
Last night Home Office minister Damian Hinds said it was not clear if the hospital was the intended target before Al Swealmeen, 32, blew himself up in a taxi.
He added counter-terror chiefs do not believe he was part of a "Liverpool cell" and cops are not looking for anyone else at this stage.
However it is understood it will take security forces some weeks to build a full picture of who he may have been in contact with amid fears he was manipulated online.
One friend who knew Al Swealmeen through his job at a pizza takeaway, said he "nearly fell off his chair" when he found out the bomber was his former colleague.
He told the Daily Mail: "He called himself GT because he loved cars. It was a little nickname he gave himself, he even had it tattooed on his arm.
"He was quiet, but not in a weird way, he was just really shy. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw his picture.
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"He did speak to me about feeling depressed one time, but didn’t really go into it.
"At the time he lived in a shared house with a few others and all he cared about was go-karting.
"He showed me his helmet that he had bought, he was really excited about it. He went go-karting a few times on his own, he was so into it, and I remember him getting a tattoo and showing it off.
"He also loved Johnny Cash and he told me he wanted to get a Johnny Cash tattoo too.
"I would love to know what happened to him over the past few years.
"He must have been manipulated or corrupted. The man I knew and what he did on Sunday – they are like night and day."
Meanwhile the pizza takeaway owner who employed Al Swealmeen for several months in 2016 said: "I was shocked when I saw who it was. I still can’t believe it.
"He was a nice, polite guy. He wasn’t a practising Muslim, he told me he lived with a Christian family, and he definitely wasn’t a fanatic.
"I’ve employed Muslims before, some of them don’t like touching ham if it isn’t Halal, but he didn’t seem worried about that."
ASYLUM 'MERRY-GO-ROUND'
Al Swealmeen - who The Sun understands was a Jordanian national - moved to the UK in 2014 and told people he was Syrian.
After his asylum claim was rejected he is said to have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for brandishing a knife near Liverpool's city centre.
Friends claimed the F1 fan changed his name to Enzo Almeni in honour of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari - hoping it would seem more Western and help his bid to stay.
In 2017 he converted to Christianity at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.
That same year he lost his final asylum appeal, but was not deported.
The bomber went on to spend eight months living with devoted Christians Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchott and appeared the perfect guest.
They said they felt "numbed" to learn that the "lovely man" who lived at their home was behind the horror attack.
Mr Hitchocott, a former British Army soldier, told the : "It's almost too impossible to believe.
"There was nothing to suggest he could go on to become radicalised."
And Mrs Hitchcott told ITV: "What a waste of a life. But the one thing I suppose to be thankful for is that he did not kill anyone else."
Last night Home Secretary Priti Patel said the case was an example of Britain's broken asylum system.
She said: “It’s a complete merry-go-round and it has been exploited.
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"A whole sort of professional legal services industry has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day-in day-out at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid. That is effectively what we need to change.”
Senior MPs vowed to launch a formal probe into fake Christian converts duping the Church of England to avoid being deported back to strict Muslim countries.
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