A judge has set a 28-day deadline for Keighley firebomber Mohammed Khalid to be assessed by a psychiatrist.

Judge Gerald Coles QC expressed concern about the continuing delay in Khalid's case following his conviction last December for a spate of firebomb attacks on properties in the town.

An order was made in April that the 37-year-old father-of-five should be admitted to Rampton Hospital for assessment, but Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that he was not taken to the hospital until July.

Judge Coles said he was granting an extension until September 14 but asked that his anxiety about the length of time the case was taking should be passed on to the hospital.

"We must have a report for sentence and Rampton must be told that," he said.

Judge Coles indicated that if the report could not be prepared within 28 days he would require an explanation about when it would be completed from the hospital.

Khalid, of Otterburn Street, Keighley, was convicted of arson with intent to endanger life and 12 offences of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life after a two-week trial.

The jury found Khalid guilty of starting a £2.5 million blaze which destroyed the Netto supermarket in Keighley and planting a series of incendiary devices around the town.

At the time of Khalid's conviction, the officer who led the investigation said the bombs could have led to deaths on a grand scale.

Detective Superintendent Brian Taylor said: "The motive is very, very difficult to establish and, at the end of the day, we didn't find one. There was no pattern to the crimes."

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