Ex-U.K. Intel Worker Jailed for Trying to Murder NSA Staffer

A former British intelligence employee on Monday was jailed for life for attempting to murder an American NSA staffer in the U.K. earlier this year.

Joshua Bowles, 29, stabbed and punched the woman on March 9 at a sports center in Cheltenham, southwest England, around 3 miles from the headquarters of GCHQ—Britain’s equivalent of the NSA—where the victim was stationed at the time of the attack and where Bowles had once worked as a software developer.

Prosecutors said Bowles researched and conducted surveillance of his victim, referred to in court with the code number “99230” owing to her job in the NSA. At London’s Old Bailey court, Justice Cheema-Grubb ruled that Bowles was motivated by terrorism and that his “politically motivated” attack had been intended to disrupt the work of American and British intelligence.

She added that he would have been sentenced to a full life term in jail if his victim had died. Instead, he now faces at least 13 years behind bars before he could be eligible for parole.

Bowles’ lawyers suggested there may have been an “incel” or “involuntary celibate” element to his motive and that he was not a terrorist, according to The Guardian. His attorneys said he had been romantically rejected by his victim’s predecessor when he worked at GCHQ and that he had looked up misogynistic assaults online on the day of his attack.

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Tim Forte, defending Bowles, said that his client was depressed and had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Forte added that Bowles felt rejected when 99230’s predecessor declined his advance, and he “transferred” his infatuation with that woman to his victim. He also said that Bowles was angry that he hadn’t been given a promotion. “There is nothing in this case demonstrating a terrorist cell, it’s an incel,” Forte insisted.

Bowles reportedly told authorities in a police interview he had selected his target “for her employment at the NSA.” “Due to the size and resourcing, American intelligence represents the largest contributor within the intelligence community so it made sense as the symbolic target,” he added. “I consider GCHQ just as guilty.”

The court was told that Bowles learned in his research of the victim that she played netball at a sports center around three miles from “The Doughnut,” GCHQ’s headquarters in Cheltenham.

On the night of the attempted murder, Bowles was armed with two knives as he waited outside the sports center in a parking lot. He attacked her as she left the building with a friend at around 9:15 p.m. The victim, her friend, and a passerby named Alex Fuentes managed to fend Bowles off, allowing the victim to temporarily escape back into the sports hall. Bowles then chased her inside and continued to stab her. She was rushed to a hospital for her multiple injuries.

After the attack, Bowles allegedly spoke about his motives to a member of the public while he waited for the police to show up, saying he could no longer “handle the murky waters of ethics and whether they are doing the right thing and the power that the American NSA have and the things they do.”

“It’s a good job I didn’t have a gun, isn’t it?” he reportedly continued, adding: “What have I done? I’ve tried to kill her. I can’t believe this.” He also said: “I make a pretty shit terrorist, don’t I?”

“This attack has had a profound effect on me and it’s utterly and completely changed my life,” his victim said in an impact statement. “Months later, my wounds are still sore. I went from being in the best shape I had ever been to being the weakest I have ever been.”

In addition to admitting the attempted murder, Bowles also admitted assaulting Fuentes.