Liverpool hospital bomber told brother ‘I’m going to do something bad’ in chilling call days before blowing up cab
LIVERPOOL Women's Hospital bomber Emad Al Swealmeen told his brother he was going to "do something bad" in a chilling call just two days before he blew up a taxi, an inquest heard today.
Iraqi-born Al Swealmeen was killed when a bomb he made at a flat he rented in Liverpool went off in a taxi with him inside.
The bombing came shortly before 11am on Remembrance Sunday, not far from a nearby church service attended by hundreds of people at Liverpool Cathedral.
Taxi driver David Perry miraculously survived the fireball - captured on hospital CCTV.
But senior coroner Andre Rebello today ruled Al Swealmeen died from the explosion and fire caused by the improvised device he manufactured with "murderous intent".
Revealing the chilling details of a call he had with his brother - who lives in America - just two days before, Mr Rebello said: "He says towards the end of the call Emad said something like 'if I do something bad that will affect the family what do you think?'
"He replied something like 'don't do s***', advising him as an older brother, although this was something which caused him concern, knowing his previous issues."
Mr Rebello said Al Swealmeen, born in Baghdad, Iraq, had been in prison in the Middle East for a serious assault on another person, as well as being in trouble in Liverpool previously for possession of an offensive weapon.
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The inquest heard he came to the country legally in May 2014 with a Jordanian passport and UK visa.
Mr Rebello added: "Shortly after his arrival he claimed, it is believed falsely, that he was of Syrian heritage and claimed asylum as a refugee from that country."
He said that claim and all subsequent claims for asylum were refused, with the latest refusal in November 2020.
And after living in housing provided by the Home Office in the Kensington area of Liverpool, Al Swealmeen went on to rent a self-contained flat in Rutland Avenue.
Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks confirmed it was accurate to describe the Rutland Avenue address as a "bomb-making factory".
He says towards the end of call Emad said something like 'if I do something bad that will affect the family what do you think?'
Andre Rebello
He also confirmed the device used in the taxi was a homemade explosive charge and was intended to cause death and serious injury.
The horrors were unbeknown to Taxi driver David Perry, who was working on the morning of Sunday November 14, when a job came in for Rutland Avenue.
The inquest heard how when he approached the address, he called his next passenger to check the number of the property and a man answered to confirm.
He said a man came down the steps of the house and walked around the back of the car into the rear passenger seat, pushing himself up against the window and the door.
Mr Rebello said: "The only words he spoke were 'Women's Hospital' in what Mr Perry describes as a foreign, Middle Eastern accent."
DEVASTATING BLAST
Mr Perry did not recall what he was wearing other than a blue and white surgical mask, which meant he could not see his face.
The inquest was then told he drove to the hospital and stopped outside the front entrance.
Mr Rebello said: "He described the journey as non-eventful, saying if the bomb hadn't gone off he wouldn't have remembered anything about the journey.
"David described pressing on the brakes, coming to a slow stop. As the vehicle stopped, suddenly it felt like a wagon had crashed into the back of the car and he said he was thrown forwards and blacked out for a couple of seconds."
The coroner added that when Mr Perry became conscious again he felt burning to his back.
It is something that has been planned over many, many months.
Andre Rebello
"He could see smoke and smell burning plastic and the smell of burning body and thought 'I'm dead if I don't get out'," he said.
"He saw light coming from the floor near his driver's door and without taking his seatbelt off he pushed the door as hard as he could to force himself out of the car.
"He didn't know if the passenger was still in there, he didn't turn round to look at him."
The hero cabby managed to escape the car and stagger out and a man wearing a high-vis jacket came to him, the inquest heard.
Mr Perry was rushed to hospital but miraculously survived the horror blast.
Recording the brief inquest into Al Swealmeen's death at Liverpool and Wirral Coroner's Cour today, coroner Andre Rebello said: "One thing that struck me was this lone actor from a disrupted family, with a bit of a chaotic background, could well have killed many, many innocent people and there doesn't appear to have been any opportunity to have detected this was about to happen.
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"It is something that has been planned over many, many months.
"Clearly, from what he said to the family, he had something in mind and yet this was hidden from everybody."
