Ex-GCHQ worker who tried to kill US spy jailed for life

Bowles, from Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of the woman, referred to by the code number 99230, and assaulting a man who attempted to intervene, causing him actual bodily harm.

On Monday, during sentencing at the Old Bailey, in London, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb found that it was a “politically motivated attack” driven by “anger and resentment” towards GCHQ and women.

Duncan Penny KC, for the prosecution, said it was a “premeditated, targeted and vicious attack on an unarmed woman”. He told the court: “That woman was a United States government employee working in the United Kingdom. She was attacked by a man who was carrying two knives and she was stabbed three times outside, and in the reception area of, a leisure centre.

“Her selection as the target for this attack was entirely and solely associated with her role as a US government employee in the National Security Agency of the United States.”

The woman had been playing netball at the centre on the evening of March 9 and was followed by Bowles as she left with a friend, who was a fellow US national, identified as 25869.

When she heard someone say “excuse me”, she turned around and was punched repeatedly in the face, the court heard. She fought back, kicking and screaming, as her friend hit Bowles with her bag and told him to leave her alone.

A passer-by, Alex Fuentes, was punched in the face when he asked Bowles, “What’s going on?” His intervention allowed the women to run back into the reception area of the centre, pursued by the defendant.

Penny said: “The CCTV footage shows the defendant holding a knife and lunging towards 99230, who was trying to back away. She describes that, ‘It felt like he hated me ... his focus was me.’”

Steve Bunn, another visitor to the leisure centre, saw blood flowing from the woman’s mouth and down her chin and throat. Describing the resumed attack, he said: “He was on her, immediately ... grabbed her and was moving around in such a way it was obvious he was trying to hit her or hurt her. He was striking at her. It looked like he was throwing punches or attacking her with punches.”

Bunn grabbed Bowles, enabling the women to escape, and the attacker dropped a knife. Bunn said the defendant’s “frenzied aggression just dissipated” once the women had left. Bunn said that, when asked whether he was OK, Bowles said: “No, I’ve just tried to kill her.”

The court heard that while waiting for the police, Bowles told Bunn he would understand [the attack] if he knew what they did at GCHQ. He said Bowles was “making out that he was disgusted by the manner in which they gather information and use things against people” and was “appalled by the agency [that 99230] works for”.

Bowles told Bunn that he could no longer “handle the murky waters of ethics and whether they are doing the right thing and the power that the American NSA have and the things they do”. He added: “It’s a good job I didn’t have a gun, isn’t it? ... I make a pretty [bad] terrorist, don’t I?”

The court was told that the victim’s injuries included cuts to her abdomen, chest and thigh. In a victim impact statement, she said that using the defendant’s name made her “feel sick” and brought back “awful memories”.

She said: “I now know he used to work where I work and I’m devastated by this. This attack has had a profound effect on me and it’s utterly and completely changed my life ... I went from being in the best shape I had ever been to being the weakest I have ever been.”

In a statement, the defendant, who has Asperger’s syndrome, told police he had targeted her because she was employed by the NSA. He said: “Due to the size and resourcing, American intelligence represents the largest contributor within the intelligence community so made sense as the symbolic target. I consider GCHQ just as guilty.”

Tim Forte, for the defence, expressed Bowles’s “profound regret, remorse and shame at what he has done”.

Forte rejected any terrorist connection and said the “depressed” defendant’s twin motivations were being “ghosted�� by a former co-worker, also an American, who was the “object of his affections”, and a desire to hurt his former employer.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of counterterrorism policing in the southeast, said: “The attack that Bowles carried out was planned and incredibly violent involving two innocent victims. Now that the court proceedings have concluded, I really do hope that the victim can begin to rebuild.

“I don’t underestimate the impact this incident would have had on the victim and her family and friends and on the brave witnesses who intervened. I actually believe they saved her life. I would really like to thank them for it. They should be very proud of themselves.”