‘He engulfed in flames very quickly’: Witness reveals how he tried to pull Poppy Day bomber from smoking vehicle after explosion before learning later it was terror attack
- Liam Spencer told how he tried to ‘grab’ attacker Emad Al Swealmeen from taxi
- ‘I couldn’t reach a hold of him without setting myself on fire,’ he told interviewer
- Taxi driver David Spencer began shouting, ‘Someone has blown me up’
A witness has revealed how he tried to rescue the Poppy Day bomber seconds after his device detonated before later learning he was a terrorist.
Liam Spencer told how he tried to ‘grab’ attacker Emad Al Swealmeen from the taxi moments after it exploded outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday.
Mr Spencer’s partner Stephanie Stitt, 20, was parked in a car just metres from the taxi when the bomb, which police believe to have been built by Al Swealmeen, was set off.
He had started a job as a delivery driver a few weeks before but previously worked at the hospital and stopped off to say hello to old colleagues.
Delivery driver Liam Spencer told how he tried to ‘grab’ terrorist Emad Al Swealmeen from a car moments after his device went off. Mr Spencer is circled. At the time he did not realise he was a suicide bomber
The terrorist’s homemade bomb later set the car on fire. Experts have suggested it failed to properly detonate
Mr Spencer’s partner Stephanie Stitt, 20, (who he is pictured with) was parked in a car just metres from the taxi when the bomb, which police believe to have been built by Al Swealmeen, was set off
Mr Spencer, 21, told the BBC: ‘Explosions just went off and it shook the hospital building.
‘Then I got closer to the car, I could smell the smoke and I could see the man in the back.
‘I went to grab him but he engulfed in flames very quickly. I couldn’t reach a hold of him without setting myself on fire.’
Ms Stitt, a student mental health nurse, added: ‘I was like, ‘Is there a baby in the back?’ And we found out there was a passenger, so everyone was screaming ‘999!’
‘It’s scary to just think about how things could have been different to be honest. You do struggle with [thinking] ‘Is that ever going to happen again?
‘Am I going to get over this?’ I’ve said to myself and my family I’m not going to let it affect me.
‘It’s not gonna have a hold on me at all…I do feel very lucky to be alive.’
Security guard Darren Knowles meanwhile rushed to the aid of taxi driver David Perry after he fled the vehicle, and said Mr Perry was screaming: ‘Someone has blown me up. I want my wife.’
Security guard Darren Knowles (right) was on duty at the maternity hospital when the bomber struck. Pictured left is taxi driver David Perry
Aerial view of the aftermath of the explosion at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the burnt out taxi
Mr Knowles described hearing a ‘loud bang’ at the time of the explosion, and said he believed it was a mechanical failure before seeing Mr Perry rush from the taxi.
He told the Daily Mirror: ‘He was panicking and screaming, ‘Someone has blown me up. I want my wife’.
‘He was trying to tell us, ‘There is a passenger, there is a passenger’.
‘I was trying to say to him, ‘Is he still in there’, and he was saying, ‘He has tried to blow me up’.’
Mr Knowles added: ‘Everyone is calling me a hero but I was just doing my job.
‘My hands were shaking when I realised how close I was to being blown up. But you don’t think, you just do.’
Iraq-born Al Swealmeen, 32, who was a Christian convert, died in the explosion while Mr Perry escaped with injuries.
Officers have described how Al Swealmeen had rented a property in Liverpool seven months ago and had started making ‘relevant purchases’ for his homemade bomb ‘at least’ since that time.
Swealmeen, 32. It is not known if he conspired with or was inspired by a terror group, suggesting he was a ‘lone wolf’ who became radicalised online during lockdown
The Royal Logistic Corps, Bomb Disposal team arriving at Sutcliffe Street in the Kensington area of Liverpool yesterday after suspicious items were found in his former asylum hostel
A Royal Logistics Corp bomb disposal vehicle arrived at Boaler Street on Wednesday along with a fire engine after a police cordon in nearby Sutcliffe Street, where officers believe Al Swealmeen previously lived, was extended.
Several suspicious packages were found, and were examined by explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) officers before being recovered by forensic teams, Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said.
The cordon was later removed from Boaler Street but Mr Jackson said the public may still see EOD officers in the area on Thursday.
Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told the Liverpool Echo that high-visibility policing will continue around the city in the run up to Christmas as a way to reassure residents and visitors.
Searches have also been carried out at a property in Rutland Avenue.
Mr Jackson confirmed reports that the asylum seeker had suffered periods of mental illness and this is being explored as part of the investigation.
Al Swealmeen, who had an asylum application rejected in 2014 after arriving in the UK, had a fresh appeal on his asylum application at the time of his death.
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