Britain’s youngest terrorist planned to behead his teachers, court hears

From The Telegraph

Britain’s youngest terrorist planned to behead his teachers and had drawn up a hit list on who to kill first, a court has heard. The youngster, who masterminded an Islamist plot to attack an Anzac Day parade in Australia, also talked about planting a bomb on a plane.

The schoolboy fanatic was directly recruited by Isil online when he was just 14 and was “wired in to” the terrorist network, Manchester Crown Court heard. 

It also emerged that the boy, now aged 15, was so extreme that his classmates had nicknamed him “the terrorist”

The fanatic became Britain’s youngest terrorist when he admitted directing others to attack police and behead victims at an Anzac Day parade in Melbourne earlier this year.

The attack, which the boy planned from his bedroom in Blackburn, Lancashire, was foiled by police after they arrested the youngster for making threats to kill at his school.

A two-day sentencing hearing was told on Thursday that the youngster, who had a troubled family life, had frequently threatened to kill his teachers, including one who he told he would “cut the throat”. He told another “you are on my beheading list” and said he had moved “above” another teacher. He threatened a teaching assistant with a pair of scissors and told another “your time has come”.

The boy plotted with a teenager in Melbourne in March this year to carry out a terror attack on Anzac Day on the centenary of the First World War battle in Gallipoli which it commemorates. But it has emerged that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been radicalised and recruiter online by Australian Isil fanatic Abu Khaled al-Cambodi. 

Cambodi described the boy as his “little brother” and put him in touch with Sevdet Besim, the Australian teenager who was allegedly going to carry out the attack.

Paul Greaney QC, told the court: “A clear picture emerges of a young person who was, by March 2015, thoroughly and dangerously radicalised and committed to Isil and the idea of violent jihad and who was, moreover, wired into the Isil network.”

The court was told that if the plot had not been thwarted it would have “in all probability” resulted in a number of deaths. Mr Greaney said: “It is clear that the purpose of this proposed attack was to promote the ideology and agenda of Isil. A striking feature of the case is that, at the time of the offence, the defendant was aged just 14. 

The youngster was said to have “strong religious convictions” and was disruptive when he attended a large secular school where most of the pupils were white. 

The prosecutor said it was “absolutely clear” that al-Cambodi was the link between the defendant and then 18-year-old Besim. He added: “That such a significant Isil figure put the two in touch is of itself indicative of the serious nature of the plot upon which (the defendant) and Besim were to embark.”

The defendant asked Besim whether he wanted to become a martyr and Besim confirmed he did, the court heard. Besim was referred to by the defendant as “a lone wolf” and was told he was to carry out the attack on his own and could ask for advice. 

In the early hours of March 18, Besim suggested an attack on Anzac Day, the court heard. The defendant messaged, “Sounds good”, and Besim replied: “Make sure the dogs remember this as well as there fallen ‘heroes’.”