Hero hospital patient who talked "lone-wolf terrorist" out of detonating a bomb in Leeds given bravery award
A patient who talked a man out of detonating a bomb at a hospital in Leeds will receive the George Medal for bravery later.
A hero hospital patient who talked a “lone-wolf terrorist” out of detonating a bomb in a maternity wing said the would-be attacker “asked for a cuddle” before telling him to “phone the police before I change my mind”.
Nathan Newby, who stopped an atrocity through an act of kindness, spoke publicly for the first time about his encounter with Mohammad Farooq ahead of receiving the George Medal for bravery.
Farooq was jailed last year for life with a minimum term of 37 years after taking a home-made pressure cooker bomb into St James’s Hospital in Leeds, intending to “kill as many nurses as possible”.
The judge who sentenced Farooq, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said Mr Newby was “an extraordinary, ordinary man whose decency and kindness on January 20 2023 prevented an atrocity in a maternity wing of a major British hospital”.
On Wednesday, he will receive the George Medal – the second-highest civilian gallantry award – for his lifesaving actions.
Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Mr Newby, 35, from Leeds, said he thought Farooq was “probably a nice guy” who was “going through bad things at the time”, and saw himself as someone who was “just in the right place at the right time”.
A trial heard Farooq had become a “self-radicalised lone-wolf terrorist”, inspired by the so-called Islamic State group, but also chose the hospital as a target as he had been a clinical support worker there and had a long-running grievance with nurses on his ward.
Mr Newby, who was a patient at the hospital on the night Farooq planned to carry out the bombing, said he had gone outside for a vape and “a bit of fresh air” when he saw Farooq with his hands in his pockets, “swaying like he’d had some bad news or something”.
“I just went over to see if he was alright, to see if I could make him feel better,” Mr Newby said.
“I said: ‘How are you, pal? Are you alright?’ and it just went from there really.”
He said Farooq eventually told him he was there “for some sort of revenge,” and revealed that he had a bomb about an hour into the conversation.
“He was constantly watching (his bag), it was about seven foot away from us, and every nurse that walked past it, he was like, looking at them, looking at the bag.
“And then I asked him what was in it… and then he just come out with it… he ummed and aahed, didn’t want to, but then I got out of him. He just said it’s a bomb.”
Mr Newby said: “I could hear it in his voice, it wasn’t a joke, or owt like that.
“So I asked to have a look at it, just to confirm it, and then he just happily opened it up and showed me it.”
Mr Newby said “part of me” was scared but that his main concern was to try and move Farooq away from the building.
“I wasn’t going to shout and things like that because it would have been nervous for others and just cause havoc, so I just thought, the best way is to keep quiet and just get him out of the way and be tactical about it.”
He said he was going through his own struggles with mental health at the time and thought: “If it goes off, it’s just going to be me and him, and I want to make sure it’s just me and him and not no one else.”
He asked Farooq about the radius and moved him away to some nearby benches, working out that “if it had have gone off at least, it would have just took the doors, it wouldn’t take the whole building out”.
Mr Newby said the plan was “just pure instinct,” adding: “I don’t know where it came from.”
Mr Newby said the pair “just chatted” over several hours, with Farooq telling him about his family and children.
“He asked for a cuddle a few times, and I said yeah, of course you can.”
He said Farooq seemed “normal,” adding: “I don’t judge anybody. Everybody’s different and unique in their own ways aren’t they? I didn’t judge him.”
Mr Newby said that Farooq asked him for a hug and called him a “top guy” before telling him: “Phone the police before I change my mind.”
He said: “It was a bit of a relief, but at the end of the day he could have still changed his mind at any time, even if we were on the phone to the police or not.”
Mr Newby said the enormity of what had happened did not hit him until he was sitting in the back of a police van after armed officers arrived and detained Farooq.
“It started sinking in that it could have been different,” he said.
“Emotions started coming, it was like wow, as if that’s just happened.”
During the phone call to police, Mr Newby told them Farooq “seemed like a nice guy deep down”.
Asked how he felt about him now, he said: “He probably is a nice guy. It was just, his head was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I would say he was just going through bad things at the time, and when you’re in that situation, your mind’s capable of doing all sorts of things that you don’t expect.”
Mr Newby said he did not think of himself as a hero, but as someone who was “just in the right place at the right time”.
He said: “I only think about that night (now) if someone brings it up. And then it’s like, it’s crazy how it could have gone….I was a patient at the time, so I wouldn’t be here, because I was at the front of the building, so it would have took me out.”