Man who set elderly mosque worshippers on fire in London and Birmingham sentenced
Mohammed Abbkr sprayed petrol on two elderly victims before setting them alight outside mosques.
A man who set fire to two worshippers as they left mosques in London and Birmingham has been sentenced after being found guilty of attempted murder.
Mohammed Abbkr, 29, who sprayed petrol on two elderly victims before setting them alight using a lighter, has been at court in Birmingham.
Abbkr struck first in the capital on February 27 2023. He had been in the West London Islamic Centre in Ealing at the same time as Hashi Odowa, 82.
They both left just before 8pm when the victim was approached by Abbkr, who was holding a Volvic water bottle containing what is believed to have been petrol.
Abbkr asked Odowa if he remembered him and the victim said he didn’t. Abbkr replied: “I swear in the name of Allah, in the name of God, you will know me.”
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He then poured petrol over Odowa, setting him ablaze with a lighter and running away. The victim threw his burning jacket into the road and was taken to hospital with burns to his face and left hand.
Abbkr struck again on March 20 2023, this time targeting Mohammed Rayaz, 70, who had just left the Dudley Road mosque in Birmingham.
At around 7pm, he approached the victim and spoke to him, asking him if he spoke Arabic. He then poured fuel over him before setting him on fire.
Rayaz managed to walk to his son’s house nearby. His son opened the door and the victim said: “Son, son, someone’s put me on fire.”
He was left with serious burns to his face and neck, in need of skin grafts to his hands and face. He’s been diagnosed with depression and PTSD, and may be left with permanent patching to his face.
Police launched a major investigation and while near the mosque carrying out enquiries around 1pm the following day, officers spotted Abbkr and recognised him from CCTV. He was arrested and charged with both attacks.
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When officers searched Abbkr’s home on Gillott Road, Edgbaston, they found a Volvic bottle containing a yellow liquid and a lighter in a rucksack.
Abbkr was found guilty of two charges of attempted murder in November 2023. He had denied the offences on the basis of insanity.
Today, he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order at Birmingham Crown Court.
Ch Insp Haroon Chughtai, of Birmingham Police, said: “These were absolutely horrific attacks which almost defy belief in their apparent randomness and severity. It is by luck and not by design that these two men, who were simply returning home from prayers.
“Counter-terrorism officers were initially called in to investigate, given the nature of the attacks. While they have continued the investigation, we have found no evidence that Abbkr was motivated by a particular ideology, and so this has not been treated as a terrorist attack."
Sentencing Abbkr, who has paranoid schizophrenia and believed people possessed by evil spirits were controlling him, Judge Melbourne Inman KC said: “The nature of each attack was identical. You threw petrol over your victims and then set them alight – the attacks were horrific.
“The two victims in this case were, on any rational view, chosen at random,” the judge added. “You, however, genuinely believed each of them was one of those trying to take control of you.
“I am wholly satisfied that you committed both of these offences at a time when you were suffering a severe mental illness.”
Abbkr, who is being treated at Ashworth high security hospital in Merseyside, watched the proceedings by video-link.
