Nathan Newby, who used kindness to persuade the "lone-wolf terrorist" to abandon his plan, is being awarded the George Medal.
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'I hugged armed man to stop him bombing hospital'
A patient who intervened to prevent a bombing at a hospital has revealed he hugged the man who was planning the attack to help calm him down.
Nathan Newby, who will later receive the George Medal, spent two hours persuading "lone-wolf terrorist" Mohammad Farooq to abandon his plan at St James' Hospital in Leeds in 2023.
In his first interview, Newby, 35, said: "I hate going into hospitals but on that day, I was in there for a reason and it was not to get better; I was in there because that was happening."
Farooq, who worked at the hospital, was later convicted of preparing acts of terrorism and was jailed for a minimum of 37 years.
Newby, who was being treated for a chest infection at the time, said he approached Farooq outside the maternity ward after spotting him fidgeting and looking anxious.
"He looked out of place so I went over to see if he was alright, to see if I could cheer him up," he explained. "He was watching a bag all the time which was six feet away."
Newby, from Leeds, persuaded Farooq to open it up and show him the contents - a pressure cooker bomb with 10kg of explosives...
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