Jail for terror couple who plotted UK killing spree
Mirza sent his bride-to-be a video of him pretending to stab a chair and asked her to buy him a knife.
In one message Taheer told Mirza: “Can we get married? I want you to kill for me. I have a list.”
He replied: “The day of the nikah [marriage] I’ll kill them all. Give me the list.
“The only thing that stops me is we are not married.”
Mirza admitted preparing terrorist acts and two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist.
Detectives discovered how he researched potential targets including a Birmingham military base on his phone.
Taheer denied any involvement but was found guilty of the preparation of terrorist acts at London’s Woolwich Crown Court in October. Judge Christopher Kinch jailed Mirza for 16 years and Taheer for 10.
Mirza’s sister Zainub, 24, of Birmingham, was jailed for 30 months after she admitted sharing Islamic State propaganda with the couple.
She sent him a number of videos, including some that showed IS militants beheading hostages, the court heard.
Another featured “American spies” having their throats slit before being hanged upside down from Madihah Taheer, left with a gun, drew up a hitlist including Katie Hopkins meat hooks in what appeared to be an abattoir.
In a message to her brother, she wrote: “May Allah give us the ability to raise our children to fight for Allah.”
Another sister sent him a photograph of her young son dressed in a police uniform, the court heard.
Referring to the Stechford district of Birmingham, Mirza replied: “He is on a covert mission – Trojan horse – ready to slaughter the pigs in Stechford police station.” Handing down the sentences, Judge Kinch said: “There is an inexorable move from interest and enthusiasm through research and studying to training, sourcing and acquiring equipment to obtaining targets for action.
“At each stage evidence demonstrates that Madihah Taheer was supportive throughout. The jury were sure that when she ordered and paid for the cold steel knife she intended to assist her husband in terrorism.
“Ummar Mirza you had moved a long way down the road to preparing acts of the lone wolf type. You moved to sourcing equipment, training and researching possible targets. The harm which might have caused is undoubtedly high.”
The couple were arrested on March 29 – a week after Khalid Masood killed five people in Westminster including PC Keith Palmer.