The man who is charged with planning and taking part in the Paris and Brussels attacks that killed 162 people has told his interrogators that he never intended to harm anyone.
Mohamed Abrini, 31, the Brussels airport bomber who became known as “the man in the hat” in closed-circuit television footage, told investigating magistrates this week that he had run away rather than detonate his bomb.
Abrini has distanced himself from other suspects and bombers who had fought in Syria for Isis. “I’ve never been in Syria. I would not hurt a fly,” he said. “I never intended to explode my bomb. I waited until the two others were detonated and then I slipped away.”
Sixteen people were killed as Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29, and Najim