Bhashir said nothing.
‘You have called for Jews to be killed, haven’t you?’ said Barlow. ‘There is a video of you saying just that outside the Israeli embassy.’
‘I am a British citizen and I have the right to express an opinion,’ said Bhashir, folding his arms. ‘I have the right of free speech.’
‘Yes, you do, Mr Bhashir.’
‘And I also have the right to a lawyer, don’t I?’
‘You have not been arrested or charged, Mr Bhashir,’ said Gillard. ‘There’s no need for a lawyer.’
‘If I have not been arrested, I would like to go home,’ said Bhashir. ‘I have said all that I have to say.’
INTERVIEW WITH ALI PASHA (8.50 p.m.)
Kamran tapped the plastic bag containing the printed instructions that had been taken from Pasha’s waistpack. ‘You were told to handcuff yourself to Mr Metcalfe?’
Pasha nodded. He was wearing a paper forensic suit that rustled each time he moved. Kamran was sitting opposite Pasha while Sergeant Lumley sat next to him, taking notes.
‘Did you know who he was?’ asked Kamran. ‘Did you know that he was an MP, for instance?’
‘I knew only what is on the note,’ said Pasha.
‘You followed the instructions to the letter?’
‘Shahid said that if I didn’t he would kill me.’
‘And how would he do that?’
‘He said he would detonate the vest by remote control.’
‘And you believed him?’
‘I saw what happened to the guy who didn’t do as he was told,’ said Pasha.
‘Tell me about that.’
‘What’s to tell? One of the guys was mouthing off and wouldn’t shut up. Shahid warned him but he wouldn’t let up. Eventually Shahid used his mobile to detonate the vest. Blew the guy to bits.’ Pasha shuddered. ‘Blood and shit everywhere, there was.’
‘You saw it?’
Pasha nodded.
‘You saw it with your own eyes?’
‘I had no choice, I was tied to a bloody chair.’ He shuddered again.
‘The thing is, if it went off, how come you weren’t hurt in the blast?’
‘Because Shahid dragged him behind this metal screen that was hanging from the rafters. But we saw it. Blood and bits of body everywhere and a noise that made my ears ring.’ He grimaced. ‘Horrible way to die.’
‘Would you say that you are a good Muslim, Mr Pasha?’
‘I try. That’s all one can do, try.’
‘You pray five times a day?’
‘I pray when I can.’
‘But you have been in trouble with the police before?’
‘Speeding tickets. That’s all.’
‘Now, that’s not true, is it? You were involved in an underage grooming ring in Tower Hamlets, weren’t you?’
‘The case was dropped,’ said Pasha.
‘So I understand. But having sex with underage girls isn’t the behaviour of a good Muslim, is it?’
‘What part of “the case was dropped” don’t you understand?’
‘Just because the case was dropped doesn’t mean you didn’t do it,’ said Kamran. ‘Cases are dropped for many reasons.’
‘I’m the victim here,’ said Pasha. ‘You’re making it sound like I was the criminal. I was drugged, dragged off the street and forced to be a suicide bomber. Have you any idea what I’ve been through today? I thought I was going to die. Since nine thirty this morning I thought that at any moment I could be blown to bits. Have you any idea what that’s like?’
Kamran shook his head. ‘No, Mr Pasha, I haven’t.’
INTERVIEW WITH ZACH AHMED (9.00 p.m.)
Zach Ahmed’s hand trembled as he put the plastic cup on the desk and tea slopped over his hand. ‘I can’t stop shaking,’ he said to Chief Superintendent Gillard, who was standing by the door. Lynne Waterman was sitting in on the interviews and was standing next to him, her back against the wall.
‘It’s a natural reaction,’ said Gillard. ‘It’ll pass.’
‘I was sure I was going to die.’ Ahmed shook his head. ‘That was all I could think about, that one minute I’d be here and the next I’d be in a thousand pieces. I kept wondering if it would hurt or if it would be like a light switching off.’ He shuddered. ‘My heart’s still racing.’
‘Do you want to see a doctor?’ asked the chief superintendent.
Ahmed forced a smile. ‘I’ll be okay,’ he said. ‘And I need to thank you for saving me. The police did an amazing job. No one was hurt, right?’
Gillard nodded. ‘Everyone is safe.’
‘Except for the guy they killed at the start,’ said Ahmed. He shuddered again.
‘We need you to tell us what happened,’ said Sergeant Barlow. ‘But this time from the moment you entered the coffee shop, and work backwards.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Ahmed.
‘I need you to go through it again, but this time in reverse. Going backwards in time.’
‘Why?’
‘It helps us check the facts,’ said Gillard. ‘Sometimes thinking about things in reverse brings up details you’d forgotten because the brain has to work harder.’ In fact retelling events in reverse order was the best way of catching someone out in a lie. It was an interrogation technique he’d used on many occasions. When someone was telling a lie it was much harder to remember the details when the time frame was changed.
‘Just take it step by step, from the time you walked into the coffee shop,’ said Barlow.
Ahmed grimaced. ‘I had read my instructions. You have those, right? They were in the waistpack I was wearing.’
‘We have it,’ Barlow said.
‘I was to go into the coffee shop and handcuff myself to someone close to the door. Then I was to reveal my vest and tell everyone to do as they were told, to start tweeting that the ISIS Six had to be released.’
‘And before that?’
‘I was in a van. A white one. I had a hood over my head. Shahid took off the hood and told me to walk away from the van and not look back. I did and he drove off. I was in Edgware Road, near Marble Arch, about fifty yards from the coffee shop.’
‘And before that?’
‘We were driving. We were sitting in the back of the van with hoods over our heads. We kept stopping and Shahid would open and close the doors as he let us out, one by one.’
Barlow smiled and gestured with his pen for Ahmed to continue.
‘Before that we were in the warehouse where we had been kept. We were tied to chairs and we were hooded and put in the back of the van. Our hands were tied behind us. He only untied us when he dropped us off.’
‘And before you were put in the van?’
‘We were sitting in a circle. Hooded. The vests were already on us. One of the men was arguing with Shahid. He wouldn’t stop. He kept shouting that he wasn’t going to do what Shahid wanted. Eventually Shahid dragged him behind a metal screen and used his mobile phone to detonate his vest.’ He shuddered and folded his arms. ‘It was… horrible. I mean, there were bits of him everywhere. There was this trainer with a bit of his leg sticking out. Bits of brain and skull and blood… I really thought I was going to die the same way.’
Gillard nodded. None of the men had been told that the vests were fake, that they had never been in any danger of being blown up. The police needed to be sure that all the men had truly been coerced and so far there seemed no doubt that they had all been in fear for their lives.
‘So you were taken yesterday?’ asked Barlow.
‘In the morning.’
‘And held all day and night?’
‘When I woke up I was on the floor with a hood over my head. They took it off and put on a blindfold and gave me a sandwich to eat and water.’
‘They?’
‘I’m sure there was more than one person,’ said Ahmed. ‘Maybe three or four.’