‘Kill the old woman Elizabeth’
IS recruit who discussed gun attack on Queen gets 8 years
A DELIVERY driver who discussed a plot to attack the Queen was jailed for eight years yesterday after he was arrested attempting to join Islamic State.
Aweys Shikhey, 38, also discussed gunning down Tottenham Hotspur fans and David Cameron, the Old Bailey heard.
Shikhey, a Somali refugee with Dutch citizenship living in north London, took out a £10,000 loan with Barclays to fund his trip to join IS, telling the bank he was planning to get married.
But the driver, who already had two wives, was actually sending the money to an online girlfriend in Norway so they could travel to Syria. His first wife and child in Kenya and second wife and five children in the Netherlands knew nothing about his plans.
The judge, Martin Edmunds QC, said his encrypted online conversations about attacks in Britain were ‘chilling, dangerous and testament to your increasing radicalisation’. He added: ‘Given the scope of your ambition, including your fantasies about the commission of very grave terrorist acts in the UK and your hatred for those who do not share your views, I have no hesitation in finding you dangerous.’
Police arrested Shikhey as he prepared to board a flight at Stansted Airport on May 24 last year and found he had posed for a selfie in order to blend in with fellow passengers.
The judge said: ‘You can have had no illusions about the nature of the fighters whose ranks you aspired to join.
‘But for your detention at Stansted, you could have been within the heart of the area then controlled by so-called Islamic State within a few days.’
After arriving in Britain in 2013, Shikhey worked at the Tops internet cafe on the Tottenham High Road in north London and then as a delivery driver for courier company DPD.
Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC said the firm considered him ‘reliable and hardworking ’, adding: ‘There was nothing that suggested he was anything other than quiet, hard-working and religiously observant. There was, however, an extremist agenda going on behind the scenes of which only a few were aware.’
Shikhey had a number of conversations with Somalian Abdirahman Idris Hassan, who was arrested in Kenya in September 2016.
Hassan’s laptop held chat transcripts on encrypted forums Telegram and Threema. In one message, Hassan had told Shikhey: ‘Lone wolves, so you know, they are most blessed. May god bestow you in killing David Cameron and the old woman, Elizabeth.’
Shikhey responded: ‘You are right. Amen, brother.’ In another conversation, in August 2016, they discussed carrying out an attack on football fans.
Shikhey told Hassan: ‘It would be better if AK-47, M16 and BKM [assault rifles] can be found. They could be taken to Stamford Hill and when people leave from the game...’
Mr Jameson told the Old Bailey the reference to ‘the game’ appeared to be a reference to White Hart Lane, the home of Tottenham Hotspur FC, which has a large Jewish following.
Shikhey, who had denied the charges, was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism by applying for a loan, buying a one-way ticket to Istanbul and going to Stansted airport in order to travel abroad to engage in violent jihad.
‘Extremist agenda behind the scenes’