Convert jailed for terror attack plot
A MUSLIM convert nicknamed “The Eagle” has been jailed for at least 15 years for planning a “spectacular” terror attack on Oxford Street in London.
Lewis Ludlow, 27, swore allegiance to Islamic State as he prepared to drive a van through London’s shopping district or Madame Tussauds.
The former Royal Mail worker, who called himself “The Eagle” and “The Ghost”, bought a phone under a false name and wrote down his attack plans, which were later found ripped up in a bin.
He identified Oxford Street as an “ideal” spot, writing: “It is expected nearly 100 could be killed in the attack.”
Last year, he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to plotting an attack in the UK and funding IS abroad.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC jailed Ludlow for life with a minimum term of 15 years.
Ludlow was also sentenced to a further seven years in prison to run concurrently for the funding offence.
The court heard how Ludlow, from Rochester in Kent, first came to the attention of police in 2010 when he attended a demonstration led by radical preacher Anjem Choudary and his banned Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) group.
When he was arrested in 2015, IS material was found on Ludlow’s electronic devices but no further action was taken.
In January 2018, he bought a ticket to fly to the Philippines on February 3 but was stopped at the airport and had his passport seized.
Having set up a PayPal account and a fake Facebook site called Antique Collections, he sent money to an IS supporter, Abu Yaqeen, in the Philippines.
Ludlow also turned his attention to launching an attack in Britain, with encouragement from Yaqeen, the court heard.
He visited an internet cafe in central Lon- don where he searched online for shopping centres, Oxford Street and the Isis flag.
Police later recovered torn-up scraps of paper from Ludlow’s bin detailing potential attack sites, including Madame Tussauds, Oxford Street, St Paul’s Cathedral and a “Shia temple in Romford”.
When Ludlow was arrested by counterterrorism police he refused to explain himself in interview.
Following his guilty plea, autistic Ludlow told how he rejected an MI5 advance in March 2017 but agreed to engage with the Prevent programme.
He became “bitter” and “heartbroken” when he was barred from going to the Philippines, he said: “I felt that I was trapped like an animal unable to escape its cage.”
At first, Abu Yaqeen asked for money then talked him into plotting an attack in Britain, saying “you have to kill them”, he claimed.
Ludlow told the court : “I said no at first, I did not want to because I felt this was a bit scary and then he said, ‘You have to do it. You have to kill them, make them pay in blood, you must get revenge. They are not innocent. They deserve to die’.