A man who plotted to kill the prime minister in a suicide attack has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years.
Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 21, from north London, was convicted last month of preparing acts of terrorism.
Rahman had planned to detonate a bomb at the gates of Downing Street and then kill Theresa May with a knife or gun.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said Rahman “would have carried out his attack” had he not been arrested.
Rahman was captured by an undercover operation involving the Metropolitan Police, MI5 and the FBI.
He was arrested moments after collecting a bag and jacket from an undercover operative which he believed had been fitted with explosives.
The judge said: “I am sure that at all material times Rahman believed the devices to be real and capable of causing serious harm.”
He added that the undercover officers involved in the case were “scrupulous” at all times and Rahman was the “instigator and author” of his own actions.
A probation report read to the court by the judge revealed that Rahman had admitted in prison he would have carried out the attack had he been able to, which is contrary to what he said during the trial.
During his trial, Rahman pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct which assisted the preparation of terrorist acts, which related to a “sponsorship” video he filmed for an associate who allegedly wanted to join the Islamic State group in Libya.
In addition to the life sentence, Rahman was handed six years in prison for the IS sponsorship video. Both sentences will run concurrently.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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