LONDON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old Muslim convert will spend at least 18 years in prison for trying to bomb a restaurant in the English city of Exeter, a London court said Friday.
London's Central Criminal Court sentenced Nicky Reilly to prison for the attempted bombing of a busy Exeter restaurant last May, The Times of London said.
Reilly, who has a mental age of 10 and suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, pleaded guilty to charges of preparing an act of terrorism and attempted murder last October.
Reilly's attempted bombing at Exeter's Giraffe restaurant went awry after he got stuck in a bathroom cubicle.
While attempting to exit the cubicle, one of Reilly's three bottle bombs exploded. The explosion caused an evacuation of the eatery and left Reilly with serious facial injuries.
Justice David Calvert-Smith said while handing down Reilly's sentence Friday that only "sheer luck" prevented the planned attack from claiming lives, The Daily Telegraph reported.
"The offense of attempted murder is aggravated by the fact that it was long-planned, that it had multiple intended victims and was intended to terrorize the population of this country," the judge said.
"It was sheer luck or chance that it did not succeed in its objectives."
