Teacher who groomed ‘mini IS militia’ jailed for 25yrs
AN unqualified teacher who tried to raise an army of “junior jihadis” ready to attack UK landmarks was dragged from the dock ranting about the end of “Western domination” as he was jailed for at least 25 years.
Umar Haque, 25, made children as young as 11 act out battles between police and ISIS fighters.
He planned to use guns and a car bomb to strike 30 targets including Big Ben, the Queen’s Guard and Westfield shopping centre in West London. He ranted as he was led to the cells: “Nine years left of Western domination. All that’s left is hunger and insecurities.”
Haque enlisted helpers at Ripple Road Mosque in Barking, East London, where unbeknown to parents he secretly brainwashed 16 children.
The boys have been left “traumatised” by the gory IS propaganda, suffering flashbacks and are now feared vulnerable to radicalisation.
He admitted playing an IS film at the Lantern of Knowledge fee-paying school in Leyton, East London. The case raises questions about inspection body Ofsted that rated the school “outstanding” while he was working there.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told Haque: “You have violated the Koran and Islam as well as the law of all civilised people.”
Fundraiser Abuthaher Mamun, 19, was jailed for 12 years, with a year on extended licence. Muhammad Abid, 27, was handed four years and three months for not reporting the plot.
Police had been on to Haque since 2016 when he was stopped at Heathrow trying to go to Syria.