Plotting terror while being deradicalised

Secret plan to target crowds

A MUSLIM convert plotted to slaughter hundreds of tourists in London while taking part in the antiradical drive Prevent.

A court heard yesterday how Lewis Ludlow, 27, mapped out strikes at Oxford Street, St Paul’s Cathedral and Madame Tussauds.

Reported by his college for extreme views and carrying a knife, he pretended to go along with deradicalisation.

But on the same day as one of his 16 Prevent meetings he also carried out terror reconnaissance. Police found scraps of paper in his bin which listed potential attack sites. He aimed drive a van up the pavement in Oxford Street after noting the lack of barriers.

But the Old Bailey heard that Ludlow, who has autism, had no driving licence and was scared of crashing, so he wanted an accomplice.

On his mobile phone, found in a drain, was a video of him ranting against the “debauchery” of the West.

He declared: “I spit at this country” and “I pledge allegiance to Islamic State”.

Ludlow, an ex-royal Mail worker and former neo-nazi, had an extremist contact in the Philippines and was stopped at Heathrow while trying to fly there last year.

He had also been in touch with British Jihadi Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a drone strike in Syria in 2015.

Ludlow, of Rochester, Kent, has admitted preparing a terror attack and funding IS.

Rebecca Trowler QC said in mitigation that his terror plans were “embryonic”. The sentencing hearing continues.

Carol & Richard

WINNERS

TARGET His picture of Oxford St. Target was in his notes (right)

FANATIC Muslim convert Lewis Ludlow