London Tube passengers saved from shrapnel bomb terror attack when improvised device ‘planted by “ISIS-inspired” student’ failed

A SHRAPNEL bomb attack on the Tube was stopped when the improvised device failed to explode, the Old Bailey heard today.

Student Damon Smith, 20, left the homemade bomb on a Jubilee Line train at North Greenwich Tube station on October 20 as he headed to his morning lecture.

Smith is accused of building the bomb himself and planning for it to detonate when its £2 Tesco clock came into contact with the "10 past" position.

He claims the device was only a smoke bomb and he used ball bearings just to make it look "real" for a prank.

But forensic investigators found that tape wrapped round the device was singed, indicating it may have partially functioned.

The court heard the bomb had ball bearings stuck on with PVA glue and a metal flask filled with explosive powder.

If it had detonated, ball bearings and shards of metal flask would have flown across the carriage, seriously injuring passengers.

Explosives expert Lorna Philp said the device was viable but that the homemade initiator may not have been powerful enough to set it alight.

Ms Philp said the explosive powder had a "high ignition temperature" and was in "lumps", but would have been much more powerful if it was ground up and packed tightly.

She added that the material used didn't really produce any smoke and was not usually used in smoke producing devices.

She said the ball bearings were "an attempt to increase the damage that this device would cause if this device had functioned".

Opening the case against Smith yesterday, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC, said: “The prosecution suggest that the evidence indicates that the defendant is a young man whose interests motivated him to construct and detonate his own bomb in a location where it would endanger life and cause damage."

The court heard that after planting the bomb, Smith was caught on CCTV going into a Starbucks to remove a hoodie before heading off to a morning lecture at the London Metropolitan University, where he was studying computer forensics.

The 20-year-old had a keen interest in weapons and even had photos of ISIS fighters on his computer, an Old Bailey jury was told.

But fellow passengers spotted the rucksack and alerted the driver at North Greenwich station.

The driver took the bag into his cab, thinking it was lost property, before looking inside and seeing a mess of wires.

Both the train and platform were evacuated and the device was made safe by cutting wires.

The prosecution alleges that Smith had ingredients for another bomb at his Rotherhithe home and said his explanation "simply doesn't make sense."

The court also heard that Smith had taken photos of himself standing next to an image on television of the Paris terror attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Before the alleged Tube incident, Smith printed off an al Qaida article entitled Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom and made notes in green ink before shredding the sheets of paper, jurors were told.

An only child, Smith was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, an autistic condition which can affect the way he interacts with people and result in a lack of empathy.

Smith denies possession of an explosive substance with intention to endanger life and cause serious injury.

He is alleged to have made or acquired the substance between October 18 and October 21 contrary to section 3(1)(b) Explosive Substances Act 1883.

The trial continues.

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