Police name suicide bomber who blew himself up in taxi outside Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital

A suicide bomber who died inside a taxi as it blew up outside a hospital in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday was a Syrian asylum seeker who converted to Christianity at the cathedral he wanted to attack and was once arrested for carrying a knife, MailOnline can reveal.

Enzo Almeni, 32, is thought to have suffered from mental health problems and was sectioned in around 2014 after being caught for brandishing a knife in central Liverpool, friends said.

He arrived in the UK several years ago and spent most of his time in Liverpool, where he was being supported by Christian volunteers from a network of churches who help asylum seekers.

Almeni’s birth name is Emad Jamil Al-Swealmeen and is believed to have spent a large part of his life in Iraq, where his mother came from. The motor racing enthusiast changed his first name to Enzo in honour of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari. It is thought that he believed that changing his name to make it sound less Muslim and more Western would help him in his asylum application.  

Almeni converted to Christianity in Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in 2017, which he had wanted to attack as 1,200 military personnel, veterans and families of the fallen gathered on Sunday. It is thought he initially asked Mr Perry to drive him to the cathedral, but that traffic and road closures stopped him from getting there. 

He died after being locked in a cab by hero taxi driver David Perry as it exploded into a fireball outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital, seconds before the 11am minute’s silence yesterday. 

In 2017, Almeni spent eight months living with devoted Christians Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchott at their home in the Aigburth district of Liverpool.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Hitchott, a former solider in the British Army, said he met Almeni in 2015 through his work at Liverpool Cathedral when he started expressing an interest in converting to Christianity. He undertook an Alpha course.

‘He first came to the cathedral in August 2015 and wanted to convert to Christianity,’ Mr Hitchott said. ‘He took an Alpha course, which explains the Christian faith, and completed it in November of that year. That enabled him to come to an informed decision and he changed from Islam to Christianity and was confirmed as a Christian by at least March 2017, just before he came to live with us. He was destitute at that time and we took him in.’  

Police said Almeni was picked up in the Rutland Avenue area of the city. As the car reached the hospital’s passenger drop-off point, it exploded. Searches are under way at the Rutland Avenue address and a second address in Sutcliffe Street, which officers have said Almeni previously lived at.

Detectives and MI5 spies are investigating whether the bombing was an Islamist-inspired attack and if Almeni was motivated to kill himself and others.  

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks of Counter Terrorism Police North West said: ‘Our enquiries are very much ongoing but at this stage we strongly believe that the deceased is 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen.

‘Al Swealmeen is connected to both the Rutland Avenue and Sutcliffe Street addresses where searches are still ongoing. We believe he lived at the Sutcliffe Street address for some time and had recently rented the Rutland Avenue address. Our focus is the Rutland Avenue address where we have continued to recover significant items.

‘We continue to appeal for any information about this incident and now that we have released his name any information that the public may have about Al Swealmeen no matter how small may be of great assistance to us.’ 

The UK’s terror threat level was raised to ‘severe’ today following a COBRA meeting at Downing Street. Police and security services advised the Prime Minister that another attack on British soil is now ‘highly likely’ following the bombing in Merseyside. 

Boris Johnson dramatically urged the country to be ‘vigilant’ this afternoon, calling the blast a ‘stark reminder’ to the public of the risks of terrorism. 

‘What yesterday showed above all is that the British people will never be cowed by terrorism, we will never give in to those who seek to divide us with senseless acts of violence. And our freedoms and our way of life will always prevail,’ the Prime Minister told a Covid press briefing. 

Here’s what we know about the terror attack so far: 

Taxi containing suicide bomber pulled up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital and explodes at 10.57am;New footage shows the driver, David Perry, jump out after the blast having apparently locked the doors to prevent him getting into the hospital;Three men aged 21, 26 and 27, are arrested with two properties around a mile from the scene being searched by police: Sutcliffe Street in Kensington;This morning a fourth suspect, 20, was arrested in Kensington, also under the Terrorism Act;Armed Police surrounded a property in Rutland Avenue close to Liverpool’s Sefton Park last night, where the  suicide bomber had been picked up from;Officers evacuated neighbouring properties, suggesting this is where the IED was built. The police activity reduced at 3.30am but the street remains cordoned off; MI5 are helping police in the north-west with an Islamist terror attack among the scenarios being investigated;One theory police are probing is that the detonators on a potential bomb exploded but not the main charge. Experts tell MailOnline that the bomb was probably not a high explosive such as TNT but of a hydrocarbon substance, most likely petrol. 

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson of Counter Terrorism North West said they know the identity of the taxi passenger and believe that he made the bomb.

He said: ‘It is not clear 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. 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. Although, 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 to understand how the device was built, the motivation for the incident and to understand if anyone else was involved in it’.  

Investigators have ‘attributed’ the bomber to both the addresses but police are not yet sure where he lived, and last night at 9.45pm anti-terror officers forced their way into the front and back of the Sutcliffe Street house as they tried to establish if he was a lone wolf or part of a cell.

Suspects were seen with their hands up in the rear yard, as officers trained their rifles on them and told them to get on the floor. Matthew Heitman, 26, who lives opposite the raided house, said: ‘Two of the men were marched out at gunpoint and they had them up against the wall. The people living there had not long moved in, maybe weeks or months.’

Another neighbour, Sharon Cullen, said she and her husband, 22-year-old daughter and two-year-old grandson were evacuated from their home. She said: ‘The police pounded on my door and an officer said ‘we need to get you out of the house as soon as possible’. They said ‘whatever is going on at the back of the house, it could blow the block’. It was really frightening.’  

Mr Perry has been credited with saving many lives after keeping the suspect inside his cab in the moments before it blew up. His wife has revealed he is ‘doing ok but is extremely sore’, while adding that his escape was an ‘utter miracle’.  

Rachel Perry wrote on Facebook: ‘I would just like to thank each and every one of you who has messaged asking how David is. He is doing ok but is extremely sore and trying to process what’s happened.

Detectives say the male passenger who died in the blast had asked to go Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital, around ten minutes drive from his home in Rutland Avenue, which police have sealed off. They also evacuated eight neighbours overnight amid fears it was being used as a bomb factory. 

Friends of Mr Perry believe the target may have been the city’s nearby Service of Remembrance at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, where 1,200 military personnel, veterans and families of the fallen had gathered less than a mile from the hospital. Roads around the cathedral had been closed before the 11am Poppy Day event.   

CCTV has emerged capturing the horrifying moment Mr Perry’s taxi became a fireball outside the reception of Liverpool Women’s Hospital, shortly before the 11am two-minute’s silence was due to take place yesterday.

The dark-coloured taxi is seen pulling into the hospital car park at speed but it explodes before it comes to a halt outside the reception. All the windows shattered and smoke pours out of the car before a dazed Mr Perry opens the driver’s door and staggers out into the road around six seconds after the blast. 

The injured taxi driver then appears to warn others to stay away from the car and there has also been praise for a man in high-viz yellow who runs towards the blazing taxi to help him. Around 30 seconds after the explosion, with smoke belching out of the car, it is engulfed by flames with the bomber still inside. One witness can be seen looking into the back seat passenger. He decides the passenger is dead and can’t be saved. 

Police are scrambling to discover the bomber’s true target. If it was the hospital, Dr Joseph Downing, a fellow in nationalism at LSE who studies security and terrorism, told MailOnline: ‘It’s quite strange and a worrying new pivot towards such a ‘soft’ target as a hospital that we have not seen before in Europe.’ 

If Mr Perry did lock the doors, today’s terrifying video makes him look even braver, as he may have decided to stop the suspect entering the hospital’s reception, even if it cost him his own life. 

A friend of married father-of-two Mr Perry, 45, said that he believed that the cathedral was the target but traffic and road closures led to the passenger, who has not been formally identified, asking the driver to park at the nearby Liverpool Women’s Hospital instead. If he locked him in, David appears to have stopped the man targeting the hospital as the clock struck 11am. 

One theory police are probing is that the detonators on a potential bomb exploded but not the main charge. That would be a repeat of the failed 21/7 bombings three weeks after the 7/7 atrocity in 2005.

David Videcette, a former 7/7 counter-terror detective at Scotland Yard, said: ‘Improvised Explosive Devices have various components, with each having to operate in the correct order, at a desired point, for there to be an explosion. Sometimes the components don’t operate in order or when desired. It’s possible what we see here is a detonator explosion that has failed to set off the main charge’.  

The Prime Minister has praised the taxi driver caught up in the Liverpool explosion for acting with ‘incredible presence of mind and bravery’.

Speaking at a medical centre in east London on Monday, Boris Johnson echoed the city’s mayor Joanne Anderson in crediting the driver.

Mr Johnson said: ‘It does look as though the taxi driver in question did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery.’

The investigation into the Remembrance Sunday explosion outside a Liverpool hospital is continuing.

A friend said: ‘David noticed the man had some kind of light attached to his clothing and was messing around with it, it didn’t look right at all. They couldn’t get there, the roads were blocked off.

‘The man changed his mind and asked to go to the city centre instead. But when they were going past the Women’s Hospital he said to pull in there. It was just before 11. David noticed the man had some kind of light attached to his clothing and was messing around with it, it didn’t look right at all.

‘I don’t know how he’s done it with a split second’s thought but David’s jumped out and locked the car with this guy in the back. As soon as he did, it’s gone off. If this guy got in the hospital God knows what could have happened. David’s the luckiest man in Britain as well as the most heroic’.   

Miraculously he suffered just minor cuts and bruises as well as damage to an ear drum. Last night he was discharged from hospital, insiders told MailOnline, while bomb squad including experts from the Army remained at the hospital.

Another friend added: ‘David suffered cuts and bruises, a perforated ear drum and needed stitches in his ear. He’ll be sore in the morning but he’s home. I’m just glad no new babies were leaving at the time. For David to have probably been terrified and think so fast and then end up OK – it’s amazing.’  

Locals said armed police ordered residents to leave, saying the area ‘wasn’t safe’ and were ‘pointing guns at a house’.  Residents of the street were given five minutes to grab some belongings before being evacuated. The operation appears to have ended at around 3.30am and the cordon remains in place this morning.   

Carl Bessant, whose partner had just had a baby at the hospital, said: ‘She was feeding the baby when it happened. We heard a loud bang and looked out of the window.

‘We saw the car on fire and someone jumped out… screaming, and there was someone inside the car. The hospital shut down, no-one in or out, so they said, but people were using the back entrance.’ 

Sections of Boaler Street and Sutcliffe Street remained cordoned off, with a heavy police presence at the scene as inquiries continued today.

A similar police scene was in place at Rutland Avenue several miles away in Sefton Park, with a large number of armed officers seen in the neighbourhood.

Locals said police arrived from about 1pm as officers went on to guard a terraced property as the immediate surrounding area was cordoned off. Around 11:30pm, witnesses said roads were being evacuated, with taxis and at least two minibuses arriving at the scene to take residents to alternative accommodation.

Shortly before 10pm Ryan O’Neill tweeted that armed police ‘pointing guns at the house’ gave him five minutes to pack and leave Boaler Street with his partner and children.

Counter-terror negotiators were also called to the scene and facilities for residents were being set up in a nearby leisure centre. 

Police early Monday said: ‘A large cordon is in place on Rutland Avenue in Liverpool and a small number of addresses have been evacuated as a precaution. This is part of our ongoing enquiries into the car explosion outside the city’s Women’s hospital on Sunday morning.’ 

Footage filmed from the hospital showed the car burning fiercely as voices can be heard gasping in shock. A shocked man is seen holding his head in his hands before being led away by hospital staff.

Locals described hearing a loud bang and seeing smoke rising from the hospital grounds just before 11am.

Father-of-two Matt Kerr, 52, said: ‘I had just sat down to watch the Remembrance Sunday service as my family have served in the army when I heard a bang.

‘I did a double take and just wondered what it was. I looked out and saw smoke, then there were police everywhere and helicopters. It’s scary to think someone might have wanted to hurt women and children.’

Mother-of-one Emily Makefield, 32, said: ‘I was walking nearby when I heard a bang and saw the smoke. It’s terrifying this could happen at a women’s hospital. It’s shocking.’

Shop worker Sandra Hughes, 35, said: ‘I saw people being turned away from hospital and police everywhere. It’s terrifying to think someone might have wanted to attack a hospital.’

Social media was last night flooded with praise for the taxi driver’s heroism.

Stephen Thomas said online: ‘He is my mate, and he spotted the passenger acting suspicious. He’s in hospital, luckily he escaped just before, but he did suffer some injuries.’

Kev Cuthbertson also wrote on Facebook: ‘He is a hero, when he noticed the bomb he locked the scumbag in the car but took the brunt of the blast.’

Billy Darwin added: ‘I’ve heard he has injuries, so on behalf of us all on here I wish this Liverpool hero a speedy recovery.

‘He put his life on the line and nearly paid the ultimate price to save others – apparently not giving anything a second thought besides making sure he went above and beyond to keep the people of our city safe.’

Marie Davies said: ‘He stopped by the women’s hospital and locked the man in his cab after noticing the device.’

Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said the car fire was ‘fully developed’ when two appliances arrived shortly after 11am.

He told reporters at the scene: ‘The operational crews extinguished the fire rapidly but as has been reiterated by the police chief constable, there was one fatality.

‘Another individual had left the vehicle prior to the fire developing to the extent that it did. Our thoughts are with them and the families of those involved.’

In a statement, North West Ambulance Service said: ‘At 10.59am today we were called to reports of a car explosion [at Liverpool Women’s Hospital]. We were on scene by 11.04am.

‘One person has died and another person was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries, before being taken to hospital.’

In a statement, the hospital, which was featured on the hit Channel 4 series One Born Every Minute and looks after around 50,000 patients a year, said: ‘We are reviewing our patient activity for the next 24-48 hours and patients should wait to be contacted for updates about any planned appointments or other attendance at the hospital.

‘Our staff are being permitted to leave and enter the hospital under the supervision of Merseyside Police.

‘We would like to say thank you for the co-operation and support of our patients, visitors and staff who have been impacted by this incident, in particular those members of staff who were at the scene at the time of the incident.’

Women were told to avoid the hospital over the next 24 hours unless directly contacted by staff and told to attend their appointments.