An attempted arsonist has been sentenced after placing a bottle containing a rag soaked in petrol into the exhaust pipe of a diplomatic car outside the Iranian embassy.
Iranian dissident Sam Parsa’s plot was foiled after the bottle was discovered 30 hours later by a contractor working nearby in Hyde Park.
A judge said it was “pure chance” that car was not used before the device was discovered.
By then, the defendant, who had sought asylum in 1990, was on his way to France.
Experts who examined the bottle confirmed it was a “viable incendiary device” that could have endangered the lives of the occupants of the vehicle.
Officers recovered CCTV footage of a shadowy figure crouching next to the BMW vehicle and “fiddling around” by the exhaust for about a minute before walking off.
An examination of the plastic bottle and a scarf linked them to Parsa by his DNA, jurors heard.
Following an Old Bailey trial, Parsa, from Tottenham, north London, was found guilty of attempted arson with intent to endanger life.
On Thursday, Judge Mark Dennis QC handed him a hospital order without limit of time.
The court heard that Parsa had suffered mental health problems for many years and had been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder.
He had been seen acting strangely outside the home of the then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and also at the entrance to Downing Street, the court heard.
Judge Dennis said Parsa presented a “significant risk” of harm to those he disagreed with or opposed for political reasons.
He said it stemmed from his “entrenched” hatred and opposition to the current Iranian regime.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Parsa’s reckless actions could have endangered lives.
“I would like to praise the member of public who spotted the bottle and did the right thing by reporting it to police quickly, averting a potentially dangerous situation.”
