Cheshire hero of Liverpool hospital bombing describes terrorist explosion

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A brave taxi driver who survived a terrorist attack outside a crowded hospital reportedly told those who came to help him: “Someone blew me up.”

CCTV footage shows the vehicle being parked outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday morning before it explodes and then catches fire.

Taxi driver David Perry managed to get out of the car before the fire broke out.

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Then the brave 45-year-old security guard Darren Knowles helped the brave security guard, who was said to have endangered his safety to rush to the taxi driver’s aid.

Security officer Darren Knowles who witnessed the terrorist incident on Sunday at Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Photo: Rowan Griffiths/Daily Mirror)

In the aftermath of Sunday’s terrorist attack, police have identified 32-year-old Iraqi-born terrorist Imad Al-Suwaiman as the man they believe is the passenger who is said to have detonated his homemade bomb.

Tonight Darren, 50, from Cheshire, told The Mirror: “Everyone calls me a hero but at the end of the day I was just doing my job.”

Darren was on duty at Liverpool Women’s Hospital when the striker struck at 10.59am on Memorial Day.

He was standing next to his private car which was parked a few meters from the main entrance.

“It all happened in a flash. I was just pumping my tire on top of my car.

A car on fire outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Photo: Liverpool Echo)

“I saw the taxi stop, as they do, because it is outside the main entrance.

“I heard a loud bang and at first I thought it was a mechanical failure in the taxi. I thought the engine was on fire.

But then I saw the taxi driver running out. He was terrified, screaming ‘Someone blew me up’.

He was trying to tell us, ‘There’s a passenger, there’s a passenger’.

“I was trying to tell him, ‘Is he still there?'” And he would say ‘He tried to blow me, he tried to blow me.’ David was confused and very confused.”

Darren said the driver was bleeding from a cut in his left ear and a shrapnel wound to the back of his neck, which was also bleeding profusely.

Security guard Darren Knowles was there at the moment the Liverpool Women’s Hospital was bombed (Photo: Rowan Griffiths/Daily Mirror)

He added: “I just grabbed him and tried to get him to safety as quickly as possible because I felt like something else was going to explode.

“My first priority was to prevent the taxi driver from getting back into the car, because he had his phone and other things in it and he wanted to take them out, but I took him to the nearest nurse for medical attention.

“I didn’t think to myself I was just thinking about getting the taxi driver to safety before anything else boarded.

He was screaming in terror and saying I want my wife.

“We were just saying ‘Calm down, let’s just see you.'”

There was blood running from his left ear down the side of his face.

He had shrapnel in the back of his neck and blood was flowing.”

“I was saying, ‘Come, come with me, we’ll help you solve the problem,'” he added, and handed him over to a nurse.

“He went to the staff entrance and sat there and that was the last I saw of him.”

Darren, who works as a security guard for an agency, added: “He was just in emotional shock, be honest. He was confused about what happened.

“God bless the man. I wish him a speedy recovery after what he went through.”

The scene at Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Photo: Liverpool Echo)

He did not look in the car to see the body of the Swellmans, who died in Hell.

But he added, “The first thing that came to my mind was a ‘terrorist attack’. We couldn’t say the words because we didn’t want to scare people.”

He said he was “absolutely calm” right after the explosion, but after 30 minutes the truth of what had happened came to light.

“My hands were trembling when I realized how close I was to detonating. But you don’t think, you just do it.”

This was only the sixth time that Darren, who lives with his partner and two youngest children, had been on duty at the hospital.

He finished in the middle of the night and returned to work the next morning for a shift to another location in Merseyside.

He was due to return to the hospital on Wednesday evening for a night shift.

He smiled, “At the end of the day I’d rather be busy than just think about things.

CCTV image of the explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital

“The kids say they’re proud of me but I told them I was just doing my job.”

The GoFundMe page was created as a thank you to Darren and three other men who tried to help at the scene, namely Liam Spencer, Richie Kawar and Will Cowan.

A friend of Mr. Kawar’s parents, who tried to put out the burning car, said of his bravery: “I think Rich just thought it was a faulty car on fire, but a member of the audience shouted ‘There’s someone in the back of the cab.'”

Rich thought because he was outside the Women’s Hospital, it must have been a pregnant woman or a baby trapped in the back of that car, so he wanted to rescue her and put out the fires.

He said it was too hot to get close to, and he could hear little pops and thumps, but he still used a whole foam extinguisher to try and put it out. It didn’t make a difference though.

“The car was in a good mess and another car belonging to Will, another security guard, was set on fire, which is also true.

“I think both guys are already back in business.”

Emergency services outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Image: PA)

Carolyn Hewitt, who created the fundraising page, wrote: “These guys Darren Knowles, William Spencer, Ritchie Kawar and Will Cowan, all risked their lives on Sunday with their brave, quick-thinking actions.

“I created a gofundme page to raise funds to be shared among the four to give them their courage.

A man in a white shirt is standing next to Richie Kawar’s car, with a fire extinguisher trying to put it out in desperation putting his life at risk.

“Will Cowan is also putting his life at risk to help others and I have also been told that his car is on fire and that his insurance will not pay because it is terrorism-related and is not covered.”

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