Mohammed Saleem killer admits making explosives in cell

Pavlo Lapshyn (l) and Mohammed Saleem

The Nazi terrorist who killed Birmingham grandfather Mohammed Saleem has admitted making an explosive substance in his cell at a maximum-security jail.

White supremacist Pavlo Lapshyn, 32, is serving a life sentence for the racist murder as well as bombing Midland mosques.

But it has now emerged that he used salt, copper wire, pencil and other substances to form an ingredient which could be used to cause an explosion.

After pleading guilty to making an explosive substance via a videolink from HMP Whitemoor, he was given an additional two-year jail sentence.

Peter Hampton, prosecuting, said Lapshyn admitted to officers that he had been preparing chemicals during their routine search of his cell in 2018 and they informed counter-terrorism specialists in the prison.

They knew of his background as a chemical engineering PhD student, his racially-motivated murder and explosives campaign, and “a long-standing interest in pyrotechnics,” Mr Hampton said.

The defendant told officers he was trying to produce potassium chloride.

Sign up for regular updates straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!

Mr Hampton said: “The defendant’s actions clearly caused the risk of explosion or fire within a category A prison, potentially to harm officers, other prisoners or Mr Lapshyn himself, and interferes with the general running of the prison.”

Reacting to the news of Lapshyn’s sentence, Saleem’s daughter Maz said her family had been disrespected by the local authorities because they had only just found out about Lapshyn’s latest act of violent terrorism two years after the event.

She said: “We must look at the wider implications. If Pavlo was brown, black or a Muslim than his behaviour would’ve been reflective of all communities. Articles would’ve been written to condemn Muslims and people of colour worldwide for their terrorist or criminal tendencies. But being white and European there are no such generalisations. There is a double standard for people like us in life, in crime and in justice. Pavlo Lapshyn is a life long, callous remorseless neo-Nazi terrorist. The real danger is that he is not alone in this world and that’s why I continue to campaign tirelessly for justice for all.”

Lapshyn, a Ukrainian national, had just started a work placement in the UK when he murdered 82-year-old Mohammed Saleem in Small Heath, Birmingham, by randomly stabbing the grandfather in the back with a hunting knife in 2013.

In the following months he planted bombs near mosques in the West Midlands, later stating his aim was to start a race war.

Late last year it emerged that Lapshyn was rushed to hospital after an attack by Muslim convert Denny de Silva.

Lapshyn was on his way to the medical room at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire when he was recognised by de Silva who grabbed a pair of crutches and smashed them into his skull.

Lapshyn received treatment for his injuries and was returned to his cell.

Add your comments below

Previous articleMaajid Nawaz apologises to Muslims and asks for forgiveness
Next articleWas the Lebanon explosion an accident or an attack?