Nail-bomber given life sentence

Nicky Reilly suffered facial injuries in the failed attack

A Muslim convert has been jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 18 years after launching a failed suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Devon.

Nicky Reilly, 22, was the only person injured when he accidentally set off his home-made nail-bomb in a toilet of Exeter's Giraffe restaurant last May.

He later admitted attempted murder and preparing an act of terrorism.

Police believe the Plymouth man, who has learning difficulties, was "preyed upon and radicalised" by others.

Reilly admitted the charges last October, but sentencing was delayed to allow doctors to assess his mental state.

He has learning difficulties and Asperger's syndrome, and is thought to have a mental age of 10.

Devon and Cornwall Police said Reilly had been "preyed on, radicalised and taken advantage of".

Officers have travelled to Pakistan in their search for two unidentified people who encouraged Reilly after contacting him via an extremist website.

Before sentencing on Friday, Reilly's mother Kim told BBC News that her son was "very sorry and very remorseful".

"He's sorry to the people of Exeter and those in the cafe that day."

She said that Reilly was "very anxious and very nervous" ahead of sentencing.

Whatever punishment he received, "that's something he's going to have to come to terms with and all I can do is support him through that", Kim Reilly said.

Suicide note

Prior to his failed suicide bombing, Reilly left a note saying: "I have not been brainwashed or indoctrinated. I am not insane."

Reilly claimed he was simply doing "what God wants from his mujahideen".

"Everywhere Muslims are suffering at the hands of Britain, Israel and America. We are sick of taking all the brutality from you," he wrote.

The note attacked drunkenness and sexual immorality as "unacceptable to Allah and the true religion Islam".

Reilly had been preparing to detonate the bombs, based in glass bottles and containing about 500 nails, when one exploded in his hands.

Dozens of customers and staff fled the restaurant in panic, but no-one else was injured.

Defence barrister Kerim Fuad described his client as the least sophisticated person to have been charged with terrorism.

Reilly had converted to Islam between 2002 and 2003, later changing his name to Mohammad Rashid Saeed Alim.