A journalist’s promise to the mother of a nail bomber helped him secure an exclusive interview with her.

Carl Eve, crime reporter with Plymouth daily The Herald, made contact with Kim Reilly shortly after her son had attempted to bomb an Exeter cafe in May last year.

Muslim convert Nicky Reilly travelled from his home in Plymouth and went into the Giraffe Cafe planning to detonate a bomb containing caustic soda, nails and kerosense.

As sentencing approached, Mrs Reilly found herself in the glare of the national media spotlight.

Carl told HTFP: “I didn’t apply any pressure, no unexpected visits, no quotes during off-the-record conversations – all things which Kim suffered at the hands of other reporters from the national media.

“At one stage she did sign with a national tabloid which on his guilty plea printed about 100 words which centred around Kim angrily criticising those Muslims who she believed were responsible for radicalising her son.

“My line was simple – it won’t be about ‘blaming Muslims’, it will be about your son growing up, how he got to be where he is and how you dealt with his difficulties – he suffers from Aspergers, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and self harming.

“I also made a straightforward promise – this is what we’ll do, this is how we’ll do it and we’ll run it by you to prove we’re not out to stiff you.

“While some may say that’s not the way we do journalism, the mother was very much a victim, not least by the voracious media which descended on the city.”

Won over by Carl’s approach, Mrs Reilly eventually agreed to do an interview shortly before the sentencing date last month where he received a life sentence for attempted murder.

He used a similar approach with the director of the local Muslim centre where Reilly prayed and was alleged to have been radicalised by particular individuals.

Carl added: “Having been targeted by the national media as the people to blame, they were understandably nervous about talking to anyone at all.

“The same lengthy negotiations, the same assurances ensured our paper got the only interview with the Muslim group who had known Nicky, educated him in Islam and sat him down with cups of tea on a regular basis.

“They revealed themselves to be good people as shocked and upset as anyone that Nicky carried out the bombing in the erroneous belief he was doing it in the name of their religion.

“Almost ten months on from the bombing, our local paper has an excellent relationship with the Muslim group and the mother of Nicky Reilly which, I think, is what local papers are meant to do.”