Liverpool hospital taxi explosion: was the location and timing significant?
Driver hailed a hero as four arrested under Terrorism Act across city
“Inferno” was the caption on the front page of the Daily Mirror today as it showed a taxi on fire outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday.
Counter-terrorism police and MI5 are investigating the blast that killed a man just “a minute before the UK honoured its war dead”, said the paper.
Four arrests have been made under the Terrorism Act and properties across the city were raided yesterday. This morning, police confirmed that they were dealing with a terrorist incident.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Patients and staff at the hospital, who were preparing to observe the national two-minute silence, were “rocked at 10.59am by the sound of a large explosion”, said The Telegraph.
The driver, named locally as David Perry, managed to escape before the vehicle burst into flames at a drop-off zone near the entrance and was treated for serious but non-life threatening injuries. He was able to return home from hospital this morning. The passenger, who is yet to be publicly named, was declared dead at the scene.
Perry has been hailed a hero after unconfirmed reports suggested he had locked the man in the car to prevent him from harming anyone else.
“The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital,” Joanne Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.
The hospital “is just a mile from Liverpool Cathedral, where military personnel, veterans and civic dignitaries were gathering for a Remembrance Day service”, noted the Telegraph. It was one of the country’s largest services with more than 2,000 people attending.
The Times said security sources confirmed that detectives were examining whether there was any significance to its closeness to the cathedral, and “said the possibility of an Islamist terror attack was among the scenarios being investigated”.
The security insiders also told the paper that detectives were “examining whether there was any significance to the timing of the incident”, so close as it was to the anniversary marking the end of World War One.
In a press conference this morning, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, Russ Jackson, said investigators were aware that the Remembrance events were taking place “just a short distance away” and that the “ignition occurred shortly before 11am”.
He said they “cannot at this time draw any connection with this” but that it was “a line of inquiry we are pursuing”. He also said that the passenger had asked the driver to be taken to the hospital.
After Army ordnance disposal officers examined the scene, the blast is “being treated as the ignition of an explosive device”, which was brought into the cab by the passenger, said Jackson. However, he said the man’s motivation was “yet to be understood”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Good riddance to the televised presidential debate'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Caitlin Clark the No. 1 pick in bullish WNBA Draft
Speed Read As expected, she went to the Indiana Fever
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 16, 2024
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - sleepyhead, little people, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Is animal cruelty getting worse?
Today's big question A new report has revealed a sickening trend of catapult animal killings shared on WhatsApp, and incidence of harming pets is rising
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
What is the new definition of extremism?
Today's Big Question Michael Gove on a mission to 'push for more stringent measures to tackle extremism in the UK'
By The Week UK Published
-
Haiti's mass jailbreak: what do gang leaders want?
Today's Big Question Gangs hope violence will bring down Prime Minister Ariel Henry amid a growing security and economic 'nightmare'
By The Week UK Published
-
The Red Army Faction: German fugitive arrested after decades on run
Why Everyone's Talking About Police reward and TV appeal leads to capture of Daniela Klette, now 65
By The Week UK Published
-
Can the UK's knife crime 'epidemic' be tamed?
Today's Big Question Fatal stabbings are on the rise but campaigners are divided over punitive threats vs. public health interventions
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Daniel Khalife escape: how secure are UK prisons?
Today's Big Question MPs and experts blame austerity cuts for chronic understaffing, overcrowding and inexperienced guards
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Daniel Abed Khalife: how did terror suspect escape from Wandsworth prison?
Today's Big Question ‘Gob-smacking’ events raise urgent questions about state of UK’s criminal justice system
By Julia O'Driscoll Published