Liverpool bomb attack: Army explosives team at home linked to suspect, as taxi driver interviewed

A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he tweeted a faked picture of Jeremy Corbyn laying a poppy wreath by the burning taxi used in the Liverpool bombing.

Paul Nickerson shared the image on Twitter on Monday evening, just one day after asylum seeker Emad al-Swealmeen died in a blast outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Mr Nickerson, who sits on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, did apologise for the tweet after coming under heavy criticism online, but has now been suspended by the Tory group leader on the council.

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Merseyside Police have said there has been “no rise” in reports of hate crime in Liverpool in recent days following the suspected terror attack on Sunday.

It comes after a Liverpool MP said Muslim people in her constituency were facing racial hatred after the terrorist incident in the city over the weekend.

Labour MP Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) told MPs: “Incidents such as these, while extremely rare, always provoke a spike in race hate and particular in the Muslim community, and my team have been hearing incidents where women wearing the Hijab are facing abuse.”

But the police force tweeted:

Emmanuel Church lay reader Joy Gambardella said al-Swealmeen told her he had come to the country from Syria through Dubai – though police believe he was born in Iraq.

She said: “I was sort of sorry for him really. He did tell me he had his asylum status turned down. We lost contact in 2019 when he stopped coming to church and I never saw him again. I often thought about him but I thought maybe he has got another church.”

She added: “He used to love baking and he did a baking course, he also did pizza making. He used to make cakes for the church and sell them, and I often said ‘I’ll have to try and get you sorted and you can have your own little business’.”

She said al-Swealmeen went to college to do a cake-making course and she had suggested he take on voluntary work, but he told her it was difficult because he did not have the right documentation.

Faith leaders in Liverpool have appealed for unity following Sunday’s explosion.

Representatives of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu faiths gathered outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in Toxteth to read a statement calling for people to “remain calm yet vigilant, and alert not alarmed”.

“Sunday’s terrorist attack at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital has shocked people of every faith – and those of no faith – across the city,” they said.

“We do not yet know the motives of the man who died. Terrorism is an indiscriminate act against people of all faiths and backgrounds. It seeks to destroy our lives of peaceful coexistence and disrupt the functioning of society.

“Liverpool is a city famed for being welcoming and tolerant. At this difficult time, let us remember that there is more that unites than divides us. Our belief in humanity may be shaken, but it remains intact.”

Amid heightened fears over copycat attacks, Greater Manchester Police said on Wednesday morning that they had responded to a “suspect package” which later turned out to be “non-suspicious”.

The force tweeted: “Officers were alerted to a suspect package in a car park at Glodwick Road, Oldham, at about 7:25am today (17 November).

“A cordon was put in place but, after examination, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit deemed it non-suspicious.”

A police cordon remains in place at Rutland Avenue, where police say Liverpool bomber Emad Al Swealmeen had been renting a property since April.

Police tape remains across both ends of the road, near Sefton Park, and officers are stationed on either end with police vans blocking access.

The road has been closed since Sunday, when the police started to search the property.

Following reports of Emad Al Swealmeen's asylum status, a statement posted on Twitter by the Liverpool City Council account said: "Liverpool is a city built on immigration.

"Our doors have been open for centuries to those seeking refuge and a safe haven.

"We will always provide a shoulder to lean on and a helping hand to guide those who need it."

The message was retweeted by Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson, who captioned it "This..." with a heart emoji.

Priti Patel has been accused of stoking anger against lawyers with “grotesque” comments over the Liverpool Women’s Hospital bombing.

The home secretary told journalists on a flight to Washington that the attack was a reflection of Britain’s “dysfunctional” asylum system and took aim at a “whole professional legal services industry that has based itself on rights of appeal”.

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The Church of England has disputed claims that it has inadvertently helped hundreds of asylum seekers convert to Christianity in order for them to “abuse” the asylum system.

There have been widespread claims in the media, attributed to Home Office sources, that it is ”standard practice” among asylum seekers “to game the asylum system” by converting to Christianity and then claiming they are at risk of religious persecution in their home countries.

But a spokesperson for the Church of England said it was “not aware of any evidence to suggest a widespread correlation between conversion to Christianity, or any other faith, and abuse of the asylum system”.

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The destroyed taxi has been taken away after forensics police completed their search of the area. Here are three photos showing police working and the vehicle’s removal on Wednesday morning.