Terror suspect armed with 42in sword ‘plotted to kill the Queen’
AN ISIL fanatic plotted to kill the Queen and her soldiers and left a suicide note saying they would be “burning in hellfire”, a court has heard.
Police officers wrestled a 42in Samurai sword from the hands of Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 27, an Uber driver, after he crashed his car outside Buckingham Palace, jurors were told.
They feared for their lives during the “surreal” confrontation with Chowdhury, who shouted repeatedly “Allahu akbar” (God is the greatest), the Old Bailey heard.
Jurors were told Chowdhury had left his sister a suicide note expressing his hatred for the Queen before setting out in his Toyota Prius on Aug 25 last year.
He allegedly wrote: “Tell everyone that I love them and that they should struggle against the enemies of Allah with their lives and their property.
“The Queen and her soldiers will all be in the hellfire, they go to war with Muslims around the world and kill them without any mercy. They are the enemies that Allah tells us to fight.”
He bought a knife sharpener in Sainsbury’s and initially headed to Windsor Castle, but ended up outside the Windsor Castle pub due to a “satnav error”, jurors were told.
He then drove past the Coldstream Guards’ barracks in Windsor and on to Buckingham Palace, where he attracted the attention of a passing police van by ploughing into traffic cones.
When Acting Sgt Gavin Hutt approached the car, Chowdhury allegedly told him: “It’s all a bit f----- up”.
Acting Sgt Hutt told jurors he wrestled with Chowdhury when the defendant reached for the handle of a blade and shouted “Allahu akbar”.
He said: “I started punching him in the face… My instinct was to try to render him unconscious.”
Chowdhury was born in London to a “close and supportive family” but became “self-radicalised” online, Tim Cray, the prosecutor, said.
The court heard he had watched the Channel 4 drama The State, about British citizens going to Syria.
He had searched the internet for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant beheadings and Jihadi John, the court heard. And he allegedly discussed the Westminster attacker Khalid Masood on Whatsapp.
The defendant, of Luton, Beds, denies preparing acts of terrorism, claiming he only wanted to get killed.