Ex-GCHQ worker tried to kill US spy outside leisure centre in frenzied knife attack
Joshua Bowles launched the vicious attack on the woman barely three miles from the GCHQ, the Old Bailey was told.
A man has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a US government employee who worked at GCHQ.
Joshua Bowles stabbed a woman outside a leisure centre in Tommy Taylors Lane, Cheltenham on March 9.
His victim, referred to in court as 99230, was a US national who works for the National Security Agency in the USA.
At the time of the attack, she was based at GCHQ in Cheltenham - barely three miles from where the attack took place.
Bowles also pleaded guilty of a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he assaulted a man who intervened while Bowles was trying to kill the woman.
The 29-year-old, appearing at the Old Bailey by videolink from Belmarsh Prison, will be sentenced at a later date.
He targeted the woman because he believed she worked at GCHQ and represented the state, the court heard.
Nick Price, Head of the CPS 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.”