A GCHQ worker has admitted trying to murder an American colleague because she worked at the spy agency.

Joshua Bowles, 29, punched and stabbed the woman, a US government employee, at a leisure centre some three miles from the UK intelligence agency’s Cheltenham base on the evening of 9 March.

Bowles, of Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm after punching a man, Alex Fuentes, who confronted the attacker in the car park.

Bowles was charged following an investigation by counter-terror police and prosecutors said there was a terrorist connection because he targeted the woman, referred to in charges only by the code number “99230”, over her work.

He was armed with two knives when he launched the attack at about 9.15pm as she left the leisure centre, in Tommy Taylors Lane, with a friend.

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The victim suffered multiple stab injuries, including a wound to her abdomen that pierced her liver, and was taken to hospital, where she needed emergency surgery and spent time in the intensive care unit.

Following the hearing on Wednesday, Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “This extremely violent attack against two innocent people was completely unprovoked.

“It is right that those who commit violent crimes like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to protect the public, and our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.”

The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, remanded Bowles in custody ahead of sentencing before the end of October.

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Attacker ‘disagreed with work’

The court heard Bowles had researched two of the woman’s predecessors, who were also US citizens, and discovered she played netball games at the leisure centre.

He waited in the car park, approached her from behind and tried to stab her before she and her friend ran back inside.

Bowles came back armed with a second knife and attacked her again but she was able to escape into the reception area.

He was arrested at the scene at around 9.30pm and told police in a statement he had gone to the leisure centre to target the woman because she worked at GCHQ, and he “disagreed with the work they conduct”.

He also said he had been suffering from mental health issues.

Prosecutor Kathryn Selby told an earlier hearing it was a “planned attack” and said: “The defendant has researched the victim and her whereabouts.”

She said Bowles had “selected the victim because he believed she works at GCHQ and holds a view on the work he believes they conduct”.

“He attacked the victim because, in his mind, she represents the state,” the prosecutor added.

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