15yrs for IS Brit behind bomb plot to kill 100
Surveillance shot of him in Oxford St ARREST No comment interview A BRIT who swore allegiance to Islamic State and planned to kill 100 shoppers in an Oxford Street truck atrocity has been jailed for life.
Muslim convert Lewis Ludlow, 27, who called himself The Eagle and The Ghost, researched targets around London in March and April last year.
He prepared to hit the capital’s iconic shopping zone or Madame Tussauds – and plans found ripped up in a bin also covered strikes at St Paul’s Cathedral and a “Shia temple in Romford”.
The Old Bailey heard he described Oxford Street as an “ideal” target, writing: “It is expected nearly 100 could be killed.”
Ludlow, of Rochester, Kent, would say only “no comment” to police after his arrest. He later said he was pressured to back IS by an operative in the Philippines called Abu Yaqeen but had changed his mind before his arrest.
Ludlow said Yaqeen told him the best tactic “was using a ram attack”, adding: “He said to achieve such a spectacular attack we should use a truck bomb.”
Ludlow admitted preparation and funding of terror acts. Defending, Rebecca Trowler said he was vulnerable due to autism and depression. But Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said: “Your participation in these offences is explained by your adherence to violent jihad. You were no one’s unwilling instrument.” Giving him life with a minimum 15 years, he said he was satisfied he was “engaged in preparations to launch a spectacular multi-victim attack”. Officers were aware of Ludlow from 2008, when his college raised concerns. He was at a 2010 demo by radical preacher Anjem Choudary and was invited to join the Met’s Prevent scheme. Ludlow was held in 2015 for having IS material but faced no action. He sent Yaqeen cash online and was stopped trying to board a flight to the Philippines in February 2018. And on April 13 last year, his mobile was found to contain videos of him swearing allegiance to IS. Judge Hilliard said: “Your extremism ran very deep and for some time. There could be no other explanation for anyone planning to kill innocent people in a van for ideological reasons.” Download of bomb belt pic At demo with preacher Choudary