A teenage boy who was jailed for terror offences has been spared an increased sentence after pleading guilty to attacking and threatening custody staff with improvised weapons.
The 16-year-old, who had been looking up the Isle of Wight Festival as a potential terror attack target, pleaded guilty to four counts of common assault, six counts of assault on an emergency worker and eight counts of possession of an offensive weapon in prison at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said his decision gave the defendant “a light at the end of the tunnel” as he sentenced the youth to a combined 12 months detention and training order (DTO) to run concurrently alongside his current sentence.
The court heard how the defendant, a Muslim convert who cannot be named because of his age, assaulted two custodial workers at a secure children’s home at the beginning of June 2023, weeks before his original crown court trial date for terrorism offences. The youth smashed a plastic jug and managed to conceal pieces of it, despite being patted down and having his room searched. He used these shards to threaten and to assault custodial staff, with one worker suffering cuts to their hand, elbow and finger.
The teen appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday (Tim Merry/Daily Express)After these incidents, on June 14, the decision was made to move the youth to a detention centre, the court was told. In the detention centre, the youth went on to make and use more improvised weapons to assault and threaten custodial staff between June and December 2023.
Mr Goldspring said the scope of the “planned and targeted” attacks meant that some form of punishment was necessary to “mark their seriousness” and to act as a deterrent. Addressing the defendant, he said: “You are so young that you will spend a significant part of your most important years in custody. Welfare dictates that I give you some light at the end of the tunnel – in other words, some focus in rehabilitation.” The defendant was previously sentenced to seven years’ detention on April 15 after a trial at Kingston Crown Court found him guilty of terrorism offences.
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The court heard that the youth, who was 15 at the time, researched the Isle of Wight festival as a potential terror attack target, looked up weapons, vehicles and stab vests, and obtained a knife by July 2022. His plans were eventually foiled by the FBI, who alerted UK counter-terror police to a user of the messaging app Discord who was plotting an attack on July 11, 2022.
Kingston Crown Court heard during the trial that the boy was aiming to knife his work colleagues at a specialist education provider instead. Jurors were told about the earlier signs of his alarming behaviour which included a teacher spotting Osama Bin Laden as his phone wallpaper. He was found to have searched phrases including “gun Isle of Wight”, “fast lorry”, “how many people are going to Isle of Wight fest”, “Isle of Wight Festival gate” and “Isle of Wight Festival gate names” during the planning stages. He also spoke about his ideas with others online as he received messages such as: “I heard you were going to attack the festival, is this true?”
Police said his ideology was influenced by the terrorist group Daesh (also known as the so-called Islamic State). A handwritten note to his family in the event anything happened to him, which said whatever he did would be driven by hatred of non-believers, was found after his arrest, jurors were told. He is also said to have tried to convert his grandmother to Islam in the note.
His plans were eventually foiled by the FBI, who alerted UK counter-terror police to a user of the messaging app Discord who was plotting an attack on July 11 2022. The teenager converted to Islam in late 2021, and five tutors who worked with him became concerned about his developing beliefs. The court previously heard the defendant is autistic but “bright, articulate and capable of exchanging ideas with others”.
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