Failed Exeter suicide bomber sentencing postponed

LONDON (Reuters) - A Muslim convert who admitted trying to blow up an Exeter restaurant had his sentencing delayed till the new year on Friday to allow for psychiatric reports.

Nicky Reilly, 22, suffered serious injuries when a homemade bomb packed with nails exploded as he tried to prime it in the toilet of the Giraffe restaurant.

He had planned to run into the packed dining area with a caustic soda bottle bomb clutched to his stomach, the Press Association reported.

But he could not open the toilet door in time before the device exploded in his hands.

"This defendant is not sophisticated in the slightest in any aspect of his life," his lawyer Kerim Fuad told the Old Bailey criminal court in London.

"He may well be the least cunning person ever to have come before this court for any offence of this magnitude, for terrorism."

He said Reilly suffered from Asperger's Syndrome and has learning difficulties.

Reilly, from Plymouth, had told psychiatrists he had wanted to be a terrorist and kill people since 2003.

Last month he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and a charge of engaging in preparation for terrorism.