Damon Smith pleaded guilty to carrying out a bomb hoax

A UNIVERSITY student who was Tasered as he was arrested by police in Holloway Road has been found guilty of planting a homemade bomb on a tube train.

Damon Smith, who was studying at London Metropolitan University, pleaded guilty to carrying out a bomb hoax, but said it had only been intended as a prank.

The 20-year-old, who has Asperger syndrome, was detained by armed anti-terror police officers opposite Holloway Road tube station on October 21 last year. He had earlier left a bag containing an improvised explosive device on a Jubilee line train. It was found and passed to the driver, who called for help after discovering it contained suspicious wires and a clock. The train was evacuated at 11am. The bomb, which failed to detonate, was set to go off at 11.02am.

A jury returned a guilty verdict at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

Mr Smith, who was living in Rotherhithe at the time, will be sentenced at a later date.

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Throughout this investigation and subsequent trial, Smith claimed that his actions were meant as a harmless prank and that the object was nothing more than a smoke bomb.

“It is hard to believe that leaving what has been described as an improvised explosive device on a tube train, on a weekday morning, can be construed as anything but an attempt to endanger life.”