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Former altar boy jailed for 15 years for planting home-made bomb on busy Tube train

A weapons-obsessed former altar boy has been jailed for 15 years for planting a home-made bomb on a busy Tube train.

Damon Smith smiled as he was sentenced to 15 years in a young offenders’ institution at the Old Bailey.

The 20-year-old built the device at home using a £2 clock from Tesco after finding an online al Qaida article entitled Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom.

Smith had claimed it was a Halloween prank but was found guilty of possession of an explosive substance with intent following a trial.

Judge Richard Marks QC, who sentenced him to 15 years in a young offenders’ institution with an extended period of five years on licence, said although Smith had an interest in Islam, he was not motivated by terrorism.

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He told the autistic defendant: “Quite what your motives were and what your true thinking was in acting as you did is difficult to discern with any degree of clarity or certainty.

“Whatever the position, the seriousness of what you did cannot be overstated, not least against the background of the fear in which we all live from the use of bombs here and around the world, an all too timely reminder of which were the events in Manchester earlier this week.”

A former altar boy has been jailed for 15 years for planting a home-made bomb on a busy Tube train.
Bomb – Damon Smith planted the device on a busy Tube train (Pictures: PA)

The trial heard that Smith took a rucksack packed with explosives and ball bearing shrapnel on the Jubilee Line on the morning of October 20 last year.

The college student was caught on CCTV flicking through a text book before getting off and leaving the bomb on the floor, timed to go off within minutes.

At least 10 passengers were in the carriage and some of them spotted the abandoned rucksack, alerting the driver who at first dismissed it as lost property, took it into his cab and carried on towards North Greenwich.

During the journey, he spotted wires coming out of the bag and raised the alarm as he pulled into the station.

If Smith’s bomb had worked it would have exploded just as commuters were being ordered off the platform, the jury heard.

A former altar boy has been jailed for 15 years for planting a home-made bomb on a busy Tube train
Casual – Smith was spotted on CCTV casually leaving the train after planting the bomb

When Smith was arrested by counter-terrorism officers, he admitted making the bomb but claimed it was a Halloween joke inspired by a YouTube video and was only meant to spew harmless smoke.

During a search of his home in Rotherhithe, south London, police seized a blank-firing self-loading pistol and a BB gun, both bought legally, as well as a knuckleduster and a knife which he showed off in an online video.

Police also uncovered torn-off scraps of shredded paper with bomb-making instructions on it and a “shopping list” of components.

Smith told police he was interested in Islam but denied being an extremist, even though he had posed next to an image of the Brussels-born Islamic terrorist alleged to have masterminded the attacks in Paris in November 2015.

A former altar boy has been jailed for 15 years for planting a home-made bomb on a busy Tube train.
Autistic – the judge said while Damon Smith had an interest in Islam, he was not motivated by terrorism

In his defence, extracts of a psychiatric report were read out confirming an autism spectrum disorder.

Smith’s lawyer Richard Carey-Hughes QC said said while it was a difficult climate to ask for mercy for someone convicted of this type of offence, the case was “unique” as was Smith.

He said Smith’s autistic disability had driven his actions and he was “sorry” for the fear and disturbance he caused and had “learned his lesson”.

The court heard that experts were divided over Smith’s future risk to society.

But Judge Marks pointed out that the defendant had constructed other devices before planting one on the Tube.