Shura Asiel, 47, from Fallowfield, has been jailed for a year and four months after threatening to stab people at Manchester Airport, the Trafford Centre and Manchester Central Library.
Asiel made the threats in a call to police from a phone outside the police station at the airport, saying he would stab people if he didn't get what he wanted. He told officers he had been in prison for 20 years and had recently been released. He said he was homeless and had gone to the airport to 'see what it looked like'.
Threats to police
Prosecutor Tanya Elahi told Manchester Crown Court: "The defendant said he came to the airport in preparation for an attack. He said he had been to the Trafford Centre the previous day and noticed the security was weak. He also said he would use a knife to stab people and then he would be killed by the police."
Asiel, originally from Iraq, said if he wasn't offered a 'solution', he would carry out his plan. He wanted to return to his home country, or Germany, or at least be given a passport. The court heard he also considered an attack at Manchester Central Library.
Previous convictions and mental health
"He said if he didn't get these things, he would come back with a knife and stab people," Ms Elahi added. "He said he had been to the Trafford Centre to see if that was a suitable location to stab people, then looked around Manchester city centre, but stated he was not able to carry out an attack there as there were too many students."
Asiel said he had been 'following people' around the airport to find the busiest areas. He told a security guard he wanted to resolve his issues peacefully because he was 'not a killer'. Officers attended and he was arrested. No weapon was found on him.
Asiel has four previous convictions for five offences, including public order, affray, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Mitigating, Dan Gaskell said his client had a history of being monitored by various services, including mental health professionals. He has mental health problems, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
"At the time of the offence, he was motivated by a desire to return to his native Iraq," Mr Gaskell added. "It is a very different system to the one he fled from. He is Kurdish by ethnicity, and that group are in a different situation to what was the regime when he fled the country."
Asiel left Iraq in 2000 and settled in the UK in 2002. He was granted indefinite leave to remain. Asiel, of Norman Road, Fallowfield, was jailed for a year and four months.
