Firebomber sent to Rampton

Father-of-five Khalid was convicted 12 months ago of starting a £3 million blaze which destroyed the Netto supermarket in Keighley along with a nearby shop and church.

He was also found guilty of planting more bombs made from fireworks, petrol, batteries, watches and wire outside various properties in the Highfield and Lawkholme areas between November 1995 and November 1996.

Police officers who worked on the case were praised by the judge, including exhibits officer Detective Constable Neil Pickering who died from a heart attack in July. His widow was in Court to hear her husband being honoured.

And Keighley men Mohammed Sadiq Nazir and Shaban Islam were each warded £300 from public funds for drawing police attention to Khalid.

During the trial, Bradford Crown Court heard how bomb disposal experts helped collect forensic evidence linking him to the devices.

A few days before his arrest, police at Keighley received a letter typed on a machine later found at Khalid's home, ending with the name "Yorkshire Demonstrator - Spring Wire".

Prosecutor Graham Hyland QC said it was still not apparent what the motive was for the attacks.

He added: "There was a time when he felt the Asian community was against him, possibly because he was married to and lived with a white woman."

Khalid, 39, of Otterburn Street, Keighley, a paranoid schizophrenic, was convicted of arson with intent to endanger life and 12 offences of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life.

Ordering that he be detained at Rampton without time limit under the Mental Health Act, Judge Gerald Coles QC said the jury had returned guilty verdicts on "overwhelming evidence."

He told Khalid: "What you did systematically caused great danger to life and property.

"Unlike terrorist activity your motive came, I fear, from the recesses of a diseased mind. You are quite clearly suffering from mental illness.

"You are, and remain, a danger to the public and must be treated as such."

It would now be for others to decide when, if ever, he was fit to be released, the judge added.

The court heard from two consultant psychiatrists who confirmed that in their opinion Khalid was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Defence counsel Tahir Khan said: "I know, having spoken to Mr Khalid, that he is not happy about staying at Rampton. He has no insight into his condition and believes there is nothing wrong with him."

Judge Coles praised the way the police and scientific experts had carried out what was "an incredible investigation" in a "quite remarkably skilful" way.

He singled out three officers for special commendation - Detective Superintendent Brian Taylor, Sergeant James McSharry and Detective Constable Neil Pickering.

The judge said he had been "greatly saddened" to learn that Det Con Pickering, who was the exhibits officer in the case, had died this summer from a heart attack at the age of 40.

As Det Con Pickering's widow sat in the public gallery, Judge Coles paid tribute to the cheerful, confident and competent way he had performed his duties during the case.

Det Supt Brian Taylor said: "It's an appropriate sentence for a dangerous man and for the gravity of the crimes that he committed. I was pleased that the judge recognised the efforts of the team after such a complex investigation."

He said he was especially pleased that the efforts of Det Con Neil Pickering had been singled out by the judge.

"His widow was very proud and I'm delighted that he has received due recognition for his efforts throughout the investigation," he said.

"He was a pivotal character in the case and he put a lot of his own time into it."

Tell-tale clue that trapped bomber

Police were about to commission a psychologist to paint a character portrait of Mohammed Khalid when he was arrested following painstaking house-to-house inquiries.

A young man living in the Dalton Lane area of Keighley told officers of his suspicions and Khalid was arrested.

One of the vital clues was a letter sent to police. Forensic scientists were able to prove it was typed on Khalid's typewriter.

His arrest was the last piece in the jigsaw. Officers were able to put together all the forensic evidence relating to the bombs and tie in Khalid's finger prints.

"We then had no need for the psychological profile which would have involved the psychologist studying all the evidence in detail with the view to producing a picture of the man's character," said Detective Superintendent Brian Taylor.

Det Supt Taylor was called in to head the hunt for the so-called Netto bomber in November 1996 after he struck for the third time in the Keighley area.

He had already burned down the Netto supermarket, Airedale Church and Damart shop in a blaze started in the complex in Bradford Road, in November 1995.

He struck again in May 1996 leaving four incendiary devices outside homes in Cartmel Road, Keighley, leading to the evacuation of 22 houses. And his final attack was in November 1996 when he struck in the Dalton Lane area, where four bombs were found, none of which went off.

Det Supt Taylor said: "This investigation was a classic example of police work involving the public and media. Forensic evidence, house-to-house inquiries, appeals in the press and the response of the public all came together to help catch this man."

Enigma of the quiet arsonist

Mohammed Khalid's arrest stunned the Asian community in Keighley where he was known as a quiet, unassuming father.

Still today people find it hard to believe that the Pakistan-born former textile worker could be the so-called Netto bomber.

Khalid, whose wife was Irish, came to Keighley about ten years ago from Birmingham. He was jobless at the time of the offences.

Khadim Hussain, the Keighley Sangat Centre manager and a director of Keighley Asian Business Forum, said: "Khalid kept to himself. He very rarely attended the Mosque. He was quiet and came from a stable background. It is very difficult to believe that he would do something like this."

Khalid came to Britain from Kashmir in 1970 when he was ten. He met his wife in Birmingham and after 12 years living in the Midlands, moved to Keighley. The couple had six children but one died young.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.