Convert jailed for terror attack plot
‘We must listen to police on crime’
SAJID JAVID has acknowledged that police resources are important in tackling knife violence, as Theresa May faced a mounting backlash for denying a link between officer numbers and bloodshed on Britain’s streets.
The Home Secretary emphasised that ministers must listen to forces following emergency talks with chief constables after a string of fatal stabbings prompted warnings of a “national emergency”.
The killings have sparked intense scrutiny of reductions in the size of the police workforce. The number of officers in the 43 territorial
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
forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 20,000 since 2009.
Mrs May, who was home secretary from 2010 to 2016, argued earlier this week that there was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”.
But a string of senior figures in policing have lined
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 London
up to dispute her assertion.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Javid said: “I think police resources are very important to deal with this. We’ve got to do everything we can.
“I’m absolutely committed to working with the police in doing this. We have to listen to them when they talk about resources.”
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.’