Teachers didn’t report terrorist who had Osama bin Laden as phone screen

A teenage terrorist who wanted to attack the Isle of Wight music festival was not reported to the authorities by teaching staff, despite having a picture of Osama bin Laden as his phone background, a court has heard.

The 15-year-old schoolboy was monitored closely by five tutors at a specialist education provider after converting to Islam in late 2021. One teacher noticed he had a photograph of Bin Laden as his screensaver but dismissed it, saying he “was often trying to shock people with what he said”.

Staff also expressed concern about his membership of an online anti-gay group, but decided against referring him to Prevent, the Government’s deradicalisation programme, when he became angry.

On Monday a judge ordered that the schoolboy, who is now 16, should be detained for seven years after he was convicted of one count of preparing acts of terrorism, three counts of disseminating terrorist publications and one count of possessing a knife in public.

Kingston Crown Court heard how the teenager – who cannot be named because of his age – “obsessively” researched carrying out a terror attack at the Isle of Wight music festival, looking up weapons, vehicles and stab vests. But jurors heard how his plans were foiled because he could not drive and did not have access to a vehicle. He then drew up plans to stab the tutors who worked with him at the specialist education provider.

His trial heard how his ideology was influenced by the terrorist group Daesh, or Islamic State, in Iraq and the Levant. But he was caught when FBI agents who were monitoring the messaging app, Discord, spotted some of his posts and alerted UK counter-terror police.