Top bravery award for patient who stopped would-be hospital bomber

A Leeds man has received a medal of bravery for his role in “talking down” a suspected bomber from carrying out a “potentially catastrophic” attack at St James's Hospital.

- by Charles Gray

Farooq was jailed on terrorism offences after he planned to detonate a bomb at St James's Hospital in Leeds.

Nathan Newby has been awarded the George Medal for preventing the planned bombing on January 20, 2023, while a patient. In the early hours of the morning, Mr Newby spotted Mohammad Farooq and thought he was struggling with his mental health. Farooq, who was a clinical support worker at the hospital, had a pressure-cooker bomb and was planning to set it off in a café full of nurses.

During Farooq's trial at Sheffield Crown Court, it was heard he had a grievance against former colleagues and “had been conducting a poison-pen campaign against them” after perceiving that they had “wronged him”.