CCTV released after IED planted in shopping centre

POLICE have issued CCTV footage of a man they want to speak to after an improvised explosive device was planted “deliberately” in a North West shopping centre.

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Dec 2015, 16:02 BST

The Fishergate Shopping Centre in Preston was locked down for hours and bomb disposal experts were called in, after the “crude” device went off in the men’s toilets.

Now a manhunt has been launched, and police have released CCTV footage of a “person of interest”.

Army bomb disposal experts, who made a 50-mile dash from their base in Chester, deployed a remote controlled robot to search the shopping mall as police revealed the device had been planted deliberately with the intention of endangering life.

The alarm was raised just after 9am when the incendiary ignited and was quickly extinguished by a member of the public.

Centre staff ordered a full evacuation, and police said: “The safety of the public is our top priority.”

Officers examined CCTV footage in the centre and have released footage of a man they would like to speak to about the incident.