Court hears Parsons Green accused, Ahmed Hassan, bought killer ingredients on Amazon without being challenged
A TEEN asylum seeker accused of the Parsons Green Tube attack made his bucket bomb with ingredients bought on Amazon, a court heard yesterday.
The Sun has revealed all items needed in a nail bomb can be bought on Amazon for £95 with no checks.
It was also revealed in court that the teen packed the device with five knives, screwdrivers, metal screws and broken glass.
He is said to have built the device in the kitchen of his foster home then left it on the Tube.
Prosecutors claimed Hassan, 18, who arrived illegally from Iraq in 2015, hated the UK and was driven to kill innocent people “because of this warped view”.
He was said to have been in contact with IS and donated to them. Hassan faced Westminster magistrates’ court, West London, yesterday where he gave his full name, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed Ali.
Prosecutor Lee Ingham said CCTV showed Hassan carrying the bomb in a Lidl bag from his home to the Tube on September 15.
It was said he boarded a District Line train at Wimbledon then got off at Putney Bridge, one stop before Parsons Green, without the bag.
The bomb detonated less than three minutes later at 8.20am, injuring 30 people.
Cops found “several hundred grams” of TATP explosive, known as Mother of Satan, in the device inside a bucket in the bag. The bucket also contained a broken glass jar and pair of trousers.
It was stuffed with a timer, battery, shrapnel including screws, five knives, two screwdrivers, broken glass and socket sets.
Mr Ingham said: “The device appears not to have functioned as intended. That’s probably down to an incorrect construction.”
Hassan was arrested at Dover at 8am the next day. Mr Ingham said cops searched foster parents Penny and Ron Jones’s home in Sunbury, Surrey. There they found “items consistent with Hassan constructing the device at that address”.
Web searches on a mobile included the reaction between magnesium and an acid. Images on the phone showed chemicals and protective clothing. A purchase of acid had been made with Amazon on September 3.
Five litres of hydrogen peroxide, used in TATP, were also bought from Amazon using a mobile in Hassan’s room. Traces of TATP were in the kitchen, the court heard.
The Sun revealed yesterday that it was possible to buy items for a £95 nail bomb on Amazon.
Mr Ingham said Hassan claims his parents were killed and he was tortured in their native Iraq.
He was worried about being sent back, having claimed asylum and expressing hatred for the UK.
A counsellor is said to have told police Hassan had a phone message: “IS has accepted your donation.”
Hassan is charged with attempted murder and possessing explosives.
He was remanded in custody to face court on October 13.
MPS WEIGH IN
POLITICIANS piled pressure on Amazon last night as the mum of Manchester bomb victim Olivia Cambell accused the firm of “lacking morals” after our probe.
Senior MPs including Commons Home Affairs Committee chief Yvette Cooper, pictured, urged the retail giant to stop flogging bomb ingredients to potential terrorists.
Ms Cooper said: “Amazon needs to get its house in order. It has sufficient sophisticated technology that purchases like these should provoke some response.”
Charlotte Campbell, 36, who lost 15-year-old Olivia in the Manchester blast, said: “I think online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have a moral responsibility to prevent bomb ingredients getting into the wrong hands.”
