A 22-year-old engineer was last night charged with murder in connection with three nail bombs which have exploded in London, leaving three people dead and more than 115 injured, over the past three weeks.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry said the man was believed to have been acting alone and was not connected to any extreme right-wing groups, several of which have claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The man, David Copeland, was also charged with three counts of causing an explosion with intent to endanger life in connection with the bombs, which have targeted the capital's Afro-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and gay communities.
Copeland was arrested following a weekend police raid on a house in the small town of Cove in Hampshire, southern England, where officers seized material believed to have been used in manufacturing bombs.
The most recent explosion on Friday evening killed three people and injured more than 70, including six who were yesterday still in critical condition.
Another 13 were still in hospital. Some of the injured have had limbs amputated; others are being treated for severe burns.
The nail bomb was detonated in a gay pub in Old Compton Street in Soho, the heart of London's entertainment district and just metres away from Chinatown.
