Farmer’s son ‘plotted London Bridge-style attack after being radicalised in a week’
THE teenage son of a farmer appeared in court yesterday accused of plotting a London Bridge-style suicide attack on a major British city.
The 17-year-old is charged with obtaining a knife and a hammer as he prepared to hijack a vehicle for a ‘lone wolf’ attack on Cardiff.
Counter-terrorism police suspect the boy – who cannot be identified because of his age and is preparing for A-levels – was radicalised in less than a week online.
The strike was feared to take place on June 30 as more than 40,000 fans descended on the Principality Stadium for a Justin Bieber concert. The teenager was arrested during a raid on his rural home hours before the Canadian pop star took the stage.
The suspected terrorist is from a middle-class white British Christian family and had shown little evidence of falling into the thrall of militant Islam. Online social media profiles show the rugby-mad boy enjoying nature watching, sending photographs of birds on his family property to BBC’s Springwatch and fishing.
The prosecution is the latest chilling evidence of how the security services are scrambling to prevent further terrorist atrocities.
Police are making unprecedented numbers of arrests as they battle to
‘Vulnerable young men’
thwart another attack on the scale of those at Westminster, Manchester or London Bridge.
Senior officers fear that lone wolves, often inspired by Islamic State propaganda and preparing unsophisticated attacks, pose the greatest threat. They do not need to buy chemicals or weapons, or share their intentions with members of a network, so are difficult to detect.
In some cases vulnerable young men are effectively groomed by online extremists who threaten and cajole them via secretive chat rooms and messaging apps.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday the boy appeared to fight back tears as he was remanded in custody.
Wearing a dark jumper and light grey trousers, the mop-haired teenager sat in the high- security dock with his arms folded. He spoke only to confirm his name and address.
No relatives travelled from his home in a picturesque area of Wales for the short hearing. The boy faces two charges under the Terrorism Act 2006. The maximum penalty for an adult defendant would be life in prison on conviction.
The first accuses him of illicitly preparing to commit acts of terrorism between May 29 and July 1. In particular, prosecutors accuse the teenager of conducting online research ‘in relation to attack planning’.
He is also accused of obtaining weapons, a 6in sheath knife and hammer allegedly found in a rucksack, and preparing a suicide note. The second charge alleges that the boy published an image and comment on an open Instagram page in the name ‘alqaeds’, apparently referring to Al Qaeda. Prosecutors said the message was ‘likely to be understood’ as a ‘direct encouragement’ for the ‘commission of acts of terrorism’. The boy was remanded to youth detention accommodation. He will appear at the Old Bailey on July 20.