Plane plot bomber Nezar Hindawi released on parole

A man jailed for 45 years for plotting to blow up an Israeli airline has been granted parole. The Parole Board decided that Nezar Hindawi, 57, was no longer a risk to the public and could be released after serving 26 years in prison.

But instead of being freed to walk the streets, the Jordanian is to remain in custody while the Government starts moves to deport him.

Hindawi planted a bomb in his pregnant fiancée’s hand luggage on a flight from London Heathrow airport to Tel Aviv in 1986. The device could have killed 375 people on board the plane had security staff not found it.

A three-member panel of the Board, believed to have been chaired by a judge, made the decision after