Man pleads guilty to terrorism offences ahead of trial for allegedly planning attack on St James’s hospital in Leeds

A clinical support worker has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences ahead of his trial for allegedly planning an attack on a maternity hospital in Leeds and an RAF station in North Yorkshire.

Mohammad Farooq, 27, from Roundhay in Leeds, is accused of taking a pressure cooker bomb to St James’s Hospital in Leeds after a failed attempt to launch a terrorist attack on RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, motivated by an interest in radical Islam.

Mr Justice Hilliard told a jury panel for a trial, which is due to open on Thursday: “This trial is about an alleged plan to target RAF Menwith Hill and then St James’s Hospital in an alleged terrorist attack.”

Farooq was arrested in the early hours of 20 January outside the maternity ward at St James’s Hospital, following a call from a member of the public.

Read more: Sky News