Racist murderer made explosive substance in jail cell

LONDON: A white supremacist serving a life sentence for a racist murder and bombing mosques has admitted making an explosive substance in his cell at a maximum-security jail.

Chemical engineer Pavlo Lapshyn, 32, used salt, copper wire, pencil and other substances to form an ingredient which could be used to cause an explosion.

When officers at the category A prison HMP Wakefield found a plate with a white substance on it in his cell in August 2018, he told them he was trying to make a firework.

Lapshyn, a Ukrainian national, had just started a work placement in the UK when he murdered 82-year-old Mohammed Saleem in Walsall 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. Since he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years he has been psychiatrically assessed and has an autism diagnosis and “significant mental health problems”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

He pleaded guilty to making an explosive substance via a videolink from HMP Whitemoor, was heard singing at points during the hearing and declined to be present when Judge Tom Bayliss QC passed a 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 and they informed counter-terrorism specialists in the prison.