The suicide bomber who blew himself up outside a Liverpool hospital might not have been ideologically motivated, it emerged yesterday.
Police have yet to find any evidence that failed asylum seeker Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, conspired with or was inspired by a terror group.
Officers say the attacker did not use an explosive known as ‘Mother of Satan’ for his bomb.
This was used by Islamist terrorists in the 2015 Paris attacks, the Manchester Arena bombing and the failed Parsons Green Tube attack, both in 2017.
Detectives are now trying to trace Al Swealmeen’s movements to discover whether he bought his explosives online or on the high street.
There are suspicions that he might have followed a recipe for the material used by the 7/7 bombers who targeted London in 2005.
A businessman who employed Emad Al Swealmeen (above) at his pizza takeaway for several months in 2016 said he was a ‘nice, polite guy’
Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott gave Al Swealmeen a room in their home for eight months in 2017
One theory is that the bomber was suffering a mental health crisis. He is understood to have been devastated at his continued failure to gain asylum here.
Worryingly, no one who knew him raised the alarm about his behaviour. His local mental health trust said he had previously been receiving help, but was no longer a patient.
A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: ‘We can confirm Emad Al Swealmeen had previously accessed our services but was not a service user at the time of the incident.’
Friends said Al Swealmeen had wrestled with depression and was sectioned in 2014 after he was rejected for asylum for the first time.
They recalled how the bomber was so ‘car mad’ that he nicknamed himself ‘GT’ and had the initials tattooed on his arm along with a chequered flag.
He changed his name to Enzo Almeni – after the Ferrari boss – and loved go-karting so much that that he bought his own helmet and got friends to sign it.
He was a regular at the TeamSport Go-karting track, on Liverpool’s Brunswick docks, often going with his housemates or on his own to race laps.
Friends said they were astounded that the ‘quiet and bashful’ young man, who was also a big fan of country singer Johnny Cash, was behind the Poppy Day bomb.
The Christian couple who took bomber in described his love for motor racing and, particularly, for Ferrari
One, who knew Al Swealmeen through his job at a pizza takeaway, said: ‘He called himself GT because he loved cars, it was a little
