An engineer from Hampshire will appear in court in London this morning charged with murder and causing explosions following three nail bomb attacks on minority groups which have killed three people and injured 130 in the past two weeks.
Despite earlier theories, police said the man was not a member of any of the right-wing extremist groups which claimed responsibility for the attacks, but was acting alone.
He was not responsible for any of the hate mail linked to the attacks nor did he make any of the telephone calls in which various right-wing groups claimed they had planted the nail bombs, the Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mr Alan Fry, told a London press conference.
Mr David Copeland (22), from Cove, near Farnborough, was arrested at his home in the early hours of Saturday morning, about nine hours after a massive nail bomb ripped through the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, killing three people and injuring more than 80.
Mr Copeland will appear at West London Magistrates' Court on charges of murder and of causing an explosion with intent to endanger life.
One of those killed by Friday's bomb was Ms Andrea Dykes (27), who was four months pregnant. Her husband, Mr Julian Dykes (25), is critically ill in hospital and is unaware of the death of his wife and unborn child. The best man at their wedding, Mr John Light (32), also died in the explosion.
Fifteen people were still being treated in hospital last night and six remained on the critical list.
Mr Fry said that officers from the anti-terrorist branch had charged Mr Copeland with all the nail bomb attacks. The news was immediately relayed to more than 2,000 people in Soho Square who were attending a vigil for the victims. In sunshine messages of support were read out from Queen Elizabeth, the Prime Minister and the pop group All Saints.
As detectives removed "combustible" and explosive materials from Mr Copeland's house and continued a forensic search for evidence, officers revealed that CCTV had played a significant part in his identification.
He was similar in appearance to a white, blond man captured on CCTV cameras in the Brixton area just a few minutes before a nail bomb exploded on Electric Avenue two weeks ago. The second attack came a week later in Brick Lane, east London, which is home to large Bangladeshi and Bengali communities.
A motive for the campaign was not immediately obvious but all the attacks were clearly carried out by the same person, Assistant Commissioner David Veness told a press conference. "There is no suggestion at this stage that the arrest is linked in any way to the extreme right-wing groups which have been reportedly claiming responsibility for these attacks on innocent people," he said.
But Mr Veness warned the public against relaxing its guard.
Responsibility for the attacks had been claimed by various extreme-right organisations, including Combat 18 and the White Wolves - which said they planted the bomb in the Admiral Duncan pub. As fear and confusion grew on Friday evening Outrage!, which represents the gay community, and several black organisations had called on the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, to ban the right-wing groups.
It was argued that the "trinity of hate" against black people, gays and Jews could spread to the Irish, Chinese and other minorities.
However, Mr Straw resisted, saying that to do so would drive the extremists underground and lend them a notoriety which could see more people recruited to their organisations.
Writing in yesterday's Mail on Sunday, Mr Straw warned that the power to proscribe organisations exercised by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mowlam, must be used carefully.
A consultative document on permanent anti-terrorism laws for the whole of the United Kingdom was under consideration and any question of widening such powers to include `domestic terrorism' would "have to be used with great care".