Liverpool car explosion declared terrorist incident and fourth man arrested

Sunday’s car explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital has officially been declared a terrorist incident.

A fourth man has now been arrested in Liverpool under the Terrorism Act, following on from three arrests yesterday.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West Russ Jackson said a taxi passenger appears to have made an improvised explosive device which detonated outside the hospital.

The passenger died in the incident, while the taxi driver escaped before the vehicle burst into flames.

The driver, named as David Perry locally, is now at home after being treated in hospital for wounds suffered in the explosion.

Assistant Chief Constable Jackson said the local taxi driver picked up a fare from the Rutland Avenue area of Liverpool and asked to be taken to Liverpool Women’s Hospital, which was about ten minutes away.

“As the taxi approached the hospital, an explosion occurred from within the car, this quickly engulfed it in flames, remarkably, the taxi driver escaped from the cab,” he said.

Army ordinance disposal officers examined the scene at the hospital and confirmed the ignition of an explosive device.

ACC Jackson said: “Our enquiries indicate the device was brought into the cab by the passenger. We believe we know the identity of the passenger but we cannot confirm it at this time.”

He said police had raided two addresses, the first in Sutcliffe Street in the Kensington area of Liverpool where three men - aged 21, 26 and 29 - were arrested.

A short while ago a further man - aged 20 - at a different address in Kensington was arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act.

They will be interviewed later today (Monday) by counter terrorism police.

The Sutcliffe Street address was searched overnight and several other addresses will be searched today and, potentially, in the coming days.

An address at Rutland Avenue in Kensington was also searched and “significant items have been found”. A cordon is in place in this area and eight families have been evacuated.

Specialist examinations at the hospital are ongoing.

ACC Jackson said: “It is not clear at this time what the motivation for this incident is. Our enquiries indicate that an improvised explosive device has been manufactured and our assumption so far is that this was built by the passenger in the taxi.

“The reason why he then took it to the Women’s Hospital is unknown, as is the reason for its sudden explosion.”

He said, however, the fact there were Remembrance events in the area at the time and the explosion went off just before the two-minute silence was a line of inquiry.

“We are of course aware that there were remembrance events just a short distance away from the Hospital and that the ignition occurred shortly before 11am.

“We cannot at this time draw any connection with this but it is a line of inquiry we are pursuing.”

“All though the motivation for this incident is yet to be understood, given all the circumstances, it has been declared a terrorist incident and counter terrorism policing are continuing with the investigation.

“Our enquiries will now continue to seek how the device was built, the motivation for the incident and to understand if anybody else was involved in it.”

Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said although there was no specific threat to the area she had asked for police patrols to be increased across Merseyside.

Anyone who has any information should call 0161 856 1027 quoting Liverpool Womens Hospital Incident.

Details can be passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.