Jihadi duo ‘wore fake suicide belts in prison attack’
Guard ‘ambushed with makeshift knives’
AN ISLAMIC extremist jailed for a plot to behead a soldier wore a fake suicide belt and yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he tried to kill a prison officer, a court heard yesterday.
Convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and radicalised inmate Baz Hockton, 26, are alleged to have built fake explosive devices and at least five makeshift weapons in a maximum security prison before setting a trap to murder the guard.
The ‘ cold and focused’ pair are accused of luring Neil Trundle to a store cupboard before launching a ferocious attack, slashing the prison officer multiple times with two homemade knives. Ziamani then told colleagues who ran to Mr Trundle’s aid: ‘I have a bomb.’
The Old Bailey heard that the ‘terrorist attack’ at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on January 9 was hatched while Ziamani was serving a sentence for a terror plot to behead an Army officer.
He was caught wandering the streets of London armed with a large knife and a hammer in 2014 after writing a letter saying he intended to wage war on the Government and planned to die as a martyr. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Annabel Darlow QC, prosecuting, said his determination to slaughter ‘an officer of the British Government’ remained undiminished despite being locked up.
The Islamic State fanatic possessed an ‘ultimate desire to kill’, she told jurors.
‘He has a past history of committing an offence in which he planned to kill an officer of the British state for terrorist purposes,’ the prosecutor added. Miss Darlow said the defendants were both wearing fake suicide vests – and pounced on Mr Trundle when his back was turned after asking him to fetch a spoon from the store cupboard.
The pair shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they ‘rained down blows’ on his head, chest and neck, it was said.
A nurse and a female prison officer who tried to intervene were allegedly attacked by Ziamani.
When another officer approached, Ziamani is said to have opened his jacket to expose a mock suicide belt. He shouted: ‘I’ve got a bomb.’
Hockton, who was serving a 12year sentence for assault, was ‘corrupted into extremism’ after he was radicalised by inmates, jurors heard. Police discovered a note in his cell saying: ‘Can’t stand anything in uniform and if I see a cop on the wing, I’m stick a spike in his head like a unicorn.’
Mr Trundle suffered cuts to his scalp, arm and shoulder.
The defendants both deny attempted murder.
Hockton has admitted an alternative charge of wounding with intent. Ziamani has admitted assaulting the nurse and prison officer who tried to intervene.
The trial continues.