Security guards spotted Austrian national Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev taking a close interest in the headquarters of Persian news channel Iran International earlier this year, capturing video from the outside of the building.
Dovtaev had landed at Gatwick from Vienna on February 11, and travelled straight to the headquarters in West London in a taxi.
He walked around the perimeter and was approached by a guard who asked what he was doing there.
Dovtaev claimed to be in the UK visiting his brother, who he said lived nearby – but later he told another guard that he was visiting a friend.
Police investigating would discover that he did not have a brother living in the UK.
Watch the moment Dovtaev was arrested:
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After speaking with him a number of times, guards grew concerned and called police – who arrested him and recovered his phone for analysis by detectives.
The TV channel had been subjected to serious threats in the months projected from Iran against its staff in the months before, believed to be in reaction to its reporting of political and social events in the country.
Detectives found that Dovtaev had been researching the building prior to his arrival in the UK – but at no point during the investigation did he reveal who he was working for or with.
When he was arrested, he told officers: “I just film this area because I thought this is wonderful, and I make, for my family, a nice video.”
They found that he viewed a map and pictures of the location along with a number of videos that had evidently been taken by other people at the same site in the weeks and months prior to his visit.
No videos of the headquarters were found on his device, but detectives believe he captured video through an app on his phone which left no trace.
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He was charged on February 13 and later convicted of attempting to collect information likely to be useful for terrorism following a trial at the Old Bailey.
He has now been jailed for three years and six months with a further licence period of 12 months.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “His actions were chilling and put into sharp focus our wider concerns about threats emanating from Iran that continue to be directed towards certain individuals and media organisations here in the UK.
“However, the protective security measures we helped to introduce meant his activity was thwarted.
“We will continue work extremely closely with our intelligence and security partners in the UK and abroad to combat any state threats.”
Iran International are no longer based at the site in Chiswick Business Park and police continue to provide security advice and support to Iran International as well as other Persian-language media companies based in the UK.
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