Muslim convert Edward Little, 22, had travelled by taxi from his home in Brighton to London with thousands of pounds in cash when officers swooped in to arrest him on September 23.
He was on his way to buy a weapon for an attack at Speakers’ Corner with potential targets including Christian preacher Hatun Tash, Metropolitan Police officers and soldiers.
At the Old Bailey today he was jailed for life.
Little, of Pelham Street, Brighton, pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, at a previous hearing on 19 May this year.
Mrs Justice McGowan today handed down a life sentence, ordering Little to serve a minimum of 16 years before he is considered for release. He will also serve a total of four years’ imprisonment to run concurrently for a charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm with intent.
The interception on a street corner in south-east London was the culmination of a counter terrorism probe spanning two months and was captured on police bodyworn video.
Counter-terrorism chief Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright said: “This is a very, very dangerous man who’s been stopped from carrying out a terrorist attack. I’m absolutely convinced of that.
“And lives have been saved as a result.
“Obviously, he had a target at Speakers’ Corner but anyone who got in his way, like a police officer or members of the public, could have been at risk.
DCS Wright, who is head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said: “Little was in a taxi travelling up from Brighton into London and on the back seat of the car was a holdall with about £5,000 in cash.
“That was the money that he had to buy the firearm. He was only about ten minutes away from using that cash to buy the firearm that he was going to use in the attack.
“What this recording of the arrest shows is just the sheer professionalism of the officers involved.
“They were having to operate under immense pressure, both in terms of time pressure and not knowing exactly what was going to happen when they intervened.
“And they made this arrest on a street corner in London in front of the public and they did it incredibly professionally, they calmed the situation down and they had Little under control really quickly.
“Our armed officers and our other specialists, they do put their lives on the line for the public. This is just a really, really good example of how they do that.
“Our investigators are well versed in operating at speed. The investigation developed really quickly. It has momentum through August and September and our senior investigating officer made the decision to intervene when he did.”
DCS Wright assessed the planned attack in the central London park had been “imminent”.
He said: “We will never know what would have happened, of course, because we stopped the attack at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.
“It is a busy place. If he’d been there with a handgun on him, who knows who would have been caught up in that.
“So it was hugely important that we stopped this when we did.”
On the danger the defendant posed, DCS Wright said: “Edward Little had a history of violence. He had convictions for knifepoint robbery. He is clearly a man who was used to violence.
“His plans appear to be determined. He was really determined to acquire a firearm and so I assessed that he was absolutely determined to carry out this attack.”
He said Little had spent weeks formulating his act of terrorism and discussed it with others.
“What he had done was spend some concerted time trying to acquire a firearm.
“He’s considered a range of possible targets over time, but he appears to have settled on carrying out an attack at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. He wanted to attack a speaker there and he did talk about attacking police officers or the military if they happened to be in the area at the time.”
DCS Wright declined to go into detail about exactly how the attack was foiled, but said: “We work with the security services, the counter-terrorism policing network and our intelligence partners. We work together day in and day out to disrupt attacks just such as this.
“We as a network with our intelligence partners are well versed in disrupting terrorist attacks like this, we have really skilled people with the training and the access to specialist techniques to disrupt attacks.”
On Little’s radicalisation, the senior officer said: “It’s not uncommon for people with criminal histories, with histories of violence, to be attracted to extremism and so he seems to be a classic case of that.
“Clearly, he’s converted to Islam at some point and then he’s begun to show an interest in Islamist extremist terrorism.
“He’s looked at various things online and he began to research how he might carry out his attack.”
As well as knifepoint robberies, Little’s criminal track record had included dealing in heroin and crack cocaine and had resulted in time spent in prison.
DCS Wright said “The fact that Little decided he needed to plead guilty is testament to the quality of the investigation and the evidence that we were able to gather. This is what the network is here to do. We are here to stop terrorists in their tracks.”
He said that since 2017 counter terrorism policing and its intelligence partners have disrupted 37 terrorist plots like Little’s.
READ MORE: Carer defrauded terminally ill Brighton man out of life savings
Last year was the first year since before 2016 that nobody lost their lives through terrorism in the UK.
He added: “We have a really good counter terrorism policing network. We can’t do this alone and we always rely on the public for their help.
“So if you see someone you’re really concerned about, or there’s something that’s just not right, please do report it. Trust your instincts and act. You can do that by reporting to the gov.uk/act website.”
Source link
[Featured]
[Just In]
