22 years for teenager who planned to behead soldier
A TEENAGE Muslim convert who idolised the murderer of Fusilier Lee Rigby was jailed for 22 years yesterday for planning a copycat attack in which he meant to behead a soldier.
Brusthom Ziamani, 19, was arrested roaming the streets with a 12in knife and a hammer wrapped in a black Islamic Statestyle flag in a rucksack.
He had researched the location of Army cadet bases and, hours before his arrest, had shown the weapons to his ex-girlfriend and told her he would kill soldiers.
He also described Michael Adebolajo, one of two men convicted of murdering Fusilier Rigby in Woolwich, East London, as a ‘leg- end’. Adebolajo tried to behead the 25-year-old soldier after running him over in the street.
The Old Bailey was told Ziamani, 18 at the time of his arrest, was a ‘lone wolf’ radicalised after being befriended by members of Al-Muhajiroun, the banned Islamist group led by hate preacher Anjem Choudary.
The teenager, who was brought up a Jehovah’s Witness but converted to Islam early last year, was found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism in August.
Sentencing him, Judge Timothy Pontius said: ‘This defendant, had he not by sheer good fortune been spotted and stopped by the police on the street in East London, would have carried out the intention he had so graphically expressed to his ex-girlfriend just a few hours before.’
The judge told Ziamani he would have to serve at least two-thirds of his 22-year sentence before being eligible for parole, and the time he would spend on licence after his release would be extended by five years.
The court heard that after con- verting to Islam and being kicked out of his parents’ home in Camberwell, south London, he turned to his local mosque for support but fell in with members of AlMuhajiroun who helped him.
Months later, he wrote on Facebook that Sharia was ‘on its way on our streets’ and when he was arrested in June on an unrelated matter, police found a ripped-up letter in his pocket telling his parents that what he was ‘about to do is an obligation’.
He was bailed and police tried to steer him away from his extremist peers, but he refused, saying he wanted to die a martyr.
Ziamani’s lawyer, Naeem Mian, said his client had been groomed and radicalised while destitute.
‘Sharia on its way’