Hospital St James’s
Hospital St James’s
A seemingly banal gesture ended up preventing a major tragedy in the United Kingdom. There was an explosive device and a gun.
One patient of a hospital in Leeds, United Kingdom, prevented a suicide attack. He went outside to smoke an e-cigarette and decided to talk to a man who appeared to be upset. And stopped a large-scale crime.
The case dates back to January 20, 2023, at St James’s Hospital, where Nathan Newby, 35 years old, was undergoing treatment. When he went out at night, he came across Mohammad Farooq, one trainee nurse at the hospital who was preparing to carry out a terrorist attack.
Farooq was carrying a explosive device improvised equipment — a pressure cooker with around 10 kilos of gunpowder — with the intention of causing a massacre, killing nurses. The plan involved attracting people outside the building and detonating the device next to the maternity ward, recalls .
Realizing that something was not right, Newby decided to approach and start a conversation. What started as a simple gesture of empathy quickly escalated into a high-risk situation when Farooq revealed he had a bomb in the bag and even showed it.
Despite the imminent danger, the patient maintained calm and chose do not alarm other peoplefearing that it would precipitate the detonation.
During about two hours, managed to establish a connection with the attacker, talking about his life and trying to dissuade him.
“So I twisted the situation, made him feel better than me… to make it seem like I was the one with more problems.”
The strategy included move it away from the entrance of the hospital, thus reducing the potential impact of a possible explosion.
“I stayed by his side, trying to distract him from what he wanted to do, get to know him better, see if I could change that. You don’t have time to think about how you’re feeling, you just think about the people around you”, he says today, naturally.
Effective approach: Farooq ended up giving up on the plan and was later detained by authorities. There was still a threat with a firearm, but very brief and without consequences.
He would later be sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 37 years.
In between, an unexpected moment: “He asked me to get up and give him a hug. So I said ‘yes, have a hug, friend’. And then he said, ‘right, I want you to call the police before I change my mind.”
Authorities believe Newby’s intervention prevented a potentially devastating attack on a hospital with hundreds of patients. However, he himself devalues his role, claiming to have been “in the right place at the right time”.
This Wednesday, more than three years later, it was distinguished. In recognition of his courage, he received the George Medal, one of the highest British civilian decorations; it is even the second highest civilian decoration in the United Kingdom for bravery, courage.
An award judge described Nathan Newby as a “ordinary and extraordinary man”.
Later during the trial, it was revealed that Farooq was a lone terrorist, inspired by the Islamic State, and that he had chosen his target because of a complaint against the nurses on his ward.
