Ex-GCHQ worker jailed for attempted murder of US spy at leisure centre

A former UK intelligence worker who attempted to kill a US spy in a “politically motivated” knife attack has been jailed for life.

Joshua Bowles, 29, described himself as a “terrorist” after repeatedly stabbing the American woman at a leisure centre just three miles from GCHQ’s base in Cheltenham.

Bowles, a former British employee at GCHQ, was armed with two knives when he ambushed the woman as she walked through the centre car park on the evening of March 9.

He then chased the woman into the reception area of the centre where he resumed his vicious assault.