Wickford teenage IS fanatic who planned attack on British soldiers jailed for life

King was radicalised online during the coronavirus pandemic

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A teenage Islamic State fanatic who planned to attack British police officers or soldiers has been imprisoned for life with a minimum term of six years. Matthew King, 19, from Wickford, had expressed a desire to kill military personnel as he prepared to stake out a British Army barracks in Stratford having been radicalised online during the pandemic.

He'd discussed plans and shared a "gory fantasy" with an online girlfriend with whom he struck up an adolescent flirtation, the Old Bailey heard. King was thwarted when his mother reported him to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, the Old Bailey had previously heard. King pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts during a five-month period between December 22, 2021, and May 17, 2022.

Authorities were also tipped off through an anti-terrorist hotline after he posted a video on a WhatsApp group on April 13 last year. While in custody, King had made a violent threats to "behead an imam" and "kill and chop up staff", the Old Bailey was told.

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At court on Friday (June 2), King was given a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of six years in the first terrorism sentencing in England and Wales to be televised.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC praised King's mother, saying: "She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns for her son. That cannot have been an easy thing to do in the first place and in my view she absolutely the right thing."

Judge Lucraft found King was a dangerous offender and carried a risk of future harm to the public, despite claims by his barrister the defendant was on the path to deradicalisation.

In mitigation, Hossein Zahir KC said King was "immature" and the prospect he would carrying out either of his terrorist plans were "remote". The defence barrister argued that despite incidents of "offensive and abusive" behaviour in custody, King was "slowly and steadily" disengaging from the excesses of extremism.

In his early teens, King had "dabbled with drugs" and was expelled from school after becoming aggressive, eventually leaving education at 16. Around 2020, he became interested in Islam, began to attend mosques and watched Muslim videos on YouTube.

By May 2021, his family noticed he had become more extreme and his mother became concerned he was watching material online promoting hatred, Mr Jarvis said. He had also developed a friendship with a girl identified only as Miss A, who he met online. He told her about his jihadist intent, saying: "I just wanna die a martyr."

When Miss A appeared to support and encourage him, King responded: "I guess jihadi love is powerful. I just want to kill people". In further graphic chat, Miss A talked about torturing, mutilating and beheading a soldier and then cutting up the body parts.

As part of his terror attack planning, King had set up an online account with the retailer Knife Warehouse, searched for IS tactical training videos in the use of knives and bought "tactical gloves" and goggles. On one occasion, he went into his sister's bedroom dressed up in his combat outfit and asked if she liked his clothes.

King made videos as he checked out potential targets including Stratford army barracks, police officers outside Stratford Magistrates’ Court and at the railway station. Some of his hostile reconnaissance videos were overlaid with nasheeds – Islamic chants – and he posted on Snapchat: "Target acquired".

Meanwhile, King had searched the internet for terrorist killers including the Manchester Arena bomber and Jihadi John. While planning acts of terrorism in Britain, King had also expressed a desire to join Islamic State in Syria and sought advice on a WhatsApp group about the best way to get there.

Authorities were alerted after King posted on WhatsApp an image of a male holding a knife with the words: "Those who said that there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying!"

King was arrested at his home on May 18 last year by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. He described his former Islamic name as "Abdul Kalashnikov" and told police: "The only thing which is black and white is the sharia, the law of Allah."

King's barrister told the court that more recent conversations with his supportive family showed signs the defendant was turning away from his radical beliefs. And in a prison phone call, King told his mother: "I’m not extreme anymore."

After the sentencing, Scotland Yard described King as a "committed, self-initiated terrorist" who was "self-radicalised" online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met's counter terrorism command, said: "King will now spend a long time in jail, where he doesn't pose a risk to the public.

"It is notable that this investigation started as a direct result of calls to police from members of the public who were concerned about King's extremist mindset, and this case is a powerful example of how vitally important information from the public is to counter-terrorism investigations.

"The speed at which King self-radicalised and then began to start planning an attack was alarming, and the calls made to us from members of the public about King led directly to police stopping him committing a deadly attack.

"This case shows that people can and should have confidence in reporting concerns linked to terrorism to us – those calls really do make a difference, and police will act on the information to keep people safe.

"I would like to commend the work of the investigation team, who built the strong foundations of the case in the two weeks after his arrest, and worked in challenging circumstances to secure the evidence needed to charge King and ensure he remained in custody from the time of his arrest."