The Liverpool hospital bomber had reverted to practising Islam in the months before his attack, investigators believe.
One theory is that Emad Al Swealmeen, who had converted to Christianity after his arrival in Britain, was trying to atone for apostasy which is considered to be punishable by death by some Islamic scholars.
Associates are believed to have told detectives that Al Swealmeen, 32, an Iraqi asylum seeker, had since returned to Islam, although sources said that was “not a motive for an attack”. Counterterrorism police are yet to find evidence of an ideology that motivated him.
Al Swealmeen started to attend Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in late 2015, after his first plea for asylum was rejected, and converted in March 2017.
He was regularly attending church
