A former UK intelligence worker called himself a terrorist after attacking a US government employee in a “vicious” attack, a court has heard.

Joshua Bowles, 29, stabbed the woman in a leisure centre car park, three miles from GCHQ’s base on 9 March.

In August, Bowles, from Welwyn Mews in Cheltenham pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assaulting a second person, causing actual bodily harm,

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in London later.

Bowles stabbed the woman, who worked for National Security Agency of the United States, three times at a leisure centre on Tommy Taylors Lane in Cheltenham.

The woman, referred to in court by the code number 99230, was attacked outside the premises and also in the reception area.

Prosecuting barrister, Duncan Penny, told the court Bowles had launched a “pre-meditated, targeted and vicious attack on an unarmed woman.

“Her selection as the target for this attack was entirely and solely associated with her role as a US government employee in the National Security Agency of the United States,” said.

“The attack was intended to be lethal – that the helpless victim survived it was mere happenstance,” added Mr Penny.

In his police interview, Bowles described himself as a “terrorist”, the court heard.

“Due to the size and resourcing, American intelligence represents the largest contributor within the intelligence community so made sense as the symbolic target.

“I consider GCHQ just as guilty,” he said.

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