School nail bomb: Man released on bail

Sep 28 2007

A man arrested on suspicion of planting a nail bomb in a Liverpool teacher’s car has been released on bail.

The 21-year-old suspect, from Huyton, was taken into custody this week after the bomb ripped through a silver Nissan Micra outside Runnymede St Edward’s School in West Derby last Friday.

The bomb - nails attached to a large firework - was detonated just minutes before hundreds of primary-age children were due to emerge 30ft from the vehicle.

The explosion of the woman teacher’s car was described by Superintendent Ian Pilling, of Merseyside Police, as a “despicable crime”.

Emergency crews were called to the £4,500-a-year public school at 2.50pm after receiving reports of a vehicle on fire.

It was only when officers examined the car - whose windows were blown out - that it became clear that the bomb had somehow been placed inside the hatchback.

Police conducted house-to-house inquiries, recovered CCTV footage and interviewed pupils, staff and parents the following Monday.