UK Foiled Terror Plots

Summary

Brusthom (Brustholm) Ziamani (aged 19 at the time) was arrested as he was preparing to behead a British soldier. He supported ISIS and wanted to imitate the 2013 jihadist murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

Ziamani, from Camberwell, south London, used his mobile phone to visit the websites of military locations in south London.

While on remand, Ziamani told a prison guard that, "I was on my way to kill a British Soldier at an army barracks. I was going to behead the soldier and hold his head in the air so my friend could take a photograph”.

Prior to arrest, Ziamani was living in London with activists linked to al-Muhajiroun successors and used his Facebook account to encourage friends to fight jihad.

Ziamani told police that he knew Michael Adebolajo, one of Rigby's killers, and claimed they distributed leaflets together in Greenwich in 2013.

The judge's sentencing remarks noted that Ziamani’s texts and Facebook postings showed that he had a hatred for figures of authority, as well as hating “Shia Muslims, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, Christians, Jews and, indeed, anyone who does not embrace his own perverted interpretation of Islam”. 

In February 2015, Ziamani was found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism (contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006).

In March 2015, he was sentenced to an extended sentence of 27 years' imprisonment, which comprised of 22 years custody and a licence extension of 5 years. This was reduced on appeal to 24 years: 19 years custodial term and an extension of 5 years. 

Additional notes

• The facts of Ziamani's attack planning were also referred to in R v Kahar [2016] EWCA Crim 568. This case sets out guidance for judges required to pass sentence in cases involving offences under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

• In January 2020, Ziamani and Baz Macaulay Hockton perpetrated a stabbing attack against a prison guard and staff in HMP Whitemoor. In October 2020, they received life sentences for attempted murder, and the judge ruled that the attacks had a terrorist connection under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. For full details, see CST's UK Terror Attacks Database.

Summary

Kazi Islam (aged 17 at the time) groomed and encouraged a vulnerable individual with Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD to attack British soldiers. The offence took place between October 2013 and July 2014.

Islam, from Manor Park, east London, praised the 2013 jihadist murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich and was inspired to encourage a similar attack against soldiers.

He accessed a document on how to make semtex, researched IEDs and encouraged his unwitting acquittance to buy components for a device and instructed him to kill a solider.

In April 2015, Islam was found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism (contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006). In May 2015, he was sentenced to to eight years in a young offenders' institution.

Summary

In September 2014, Mark Colborne was convicted in a retrial of preparing terrorist acts (contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006). He was in the process of processing chemicals into cyanide and used manuals to study making explosive devices.

Colborne's brother alerted police to a large quantity of chemical's in his bedroom, and police also found a book that contained recipes to make lethal poisons. 

Colborne, who expressed admiration for Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, had written in his notebook about assassinating Prince Charles so that Prince Harry would be king:

Summary

In 2013, Ian Forman (aged 42 at the time) planned to bomb mosques in Merseyside. At his home, police found a homemade IED and chemicals, video clips showing him experimenting with explosives and an anti-Islam video he created.

Forman saved images of Penny Lane Mosque in Liverpool and Wirral Islamic Centre in Birkenhead, labelling them as "target one" and "target two". His IED had a sufficient quantity of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal to make 1.2 kg of Black Powder when mixed together in the correct amounts.

Police also found a replica Nazi uniform, and Forman admitted having extreme right-wing views in his youth but claimed he no longer harboured such sentiments.

However, Greater Manchester Police described Forman as a Nazi sympathiser, and the sentencing judge stated that Forman had acted in a "racist, abusive and extremely offensive manner...in your perverted way believed that your activities were a continuation of Nazi warfare".

In March 2014, Forman, from Oxton, Birkenhead, was found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism (contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006). In May 2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Summary

Ashraf Islam (aged 30 at the time) voluntarily surrendered to police in Hounslow the day after Lee Rigby's murder. He confessed to having advanced plans to murder Prince Harry who he claimed “had blood on his hands” for tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Islam spent ten days in Thailand building up his fitness, conducting online research and refining plans before flying to London. Police found several searches on his laptop about Prince Harry’s protection team, where he lived and royal engagements. He also recorded a video making threats to kill the Prince.

In February 2014, Islam was sentenced to 3 years after pleading guilty to making a threat to kill (contrary to Section 16 offences against the Person Act 186). 

The judge said that Islam clearly suffered from a personality disorder, and that he did not have a professional plan to carry out his intentions.

Islam, a Muslim convert from Bangor in Northern Ireland, had a previous conviction for fraud and was jailed for nine years in 2000 for attempted robbery. He was formerly known as Mark Townley.