Chilling moment teenage Islamic State fanatic who was just hours away from carrying out terror attack scopes out police station and train station – as he is jailed for life
- Matthew King, 19, previously pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts
- His barrister has argued he is ‘immature’ and is disengaging from extremism
Islamic State fanatic Matthew King, 19, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of six years at the Old Bailey for plotting a terror attack on British police officers or soldiers, after he was filmed scoping out a police and train station.
King, from Wickford in Essex, previously pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts between December 22 2021 and May 17 2022.
He carried out surveillance at police stations, railway stations, a magistrates’ court and a British Army barracks and was just one day away from embarking on a terror attack when he was arrested by police.
Footage released by police after the sentencing shows King walking past a train station while dressed in a black tracksuit and cap, as well as filming outside an army barracks.
In mitigation, his barrister Hossein Zahir KC said King was ‘immature’ and the prospect he would have carried out a terror attack in the UK or travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State was ‘remote’.
But Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the 19-year-old he poses a risk to the public, and revealed a phone call made by King to his mother after being arrested in which he claimed to have done ‘nothing wrong’.
Matthew King, 19, was alleged to have carried out surveillance at police stations, railway stations, a magistrates’ court and a British Army barracks
Authorities had been tipped off about King through an anti-terrorist hotline and the Prevent counter-terrorism programme after he posted a video on a WhatsApp group on April 13 last year
King, who converted to Islam during the COVID-19 lockdown and became quickly radicalised by watching extremist material on the internet posted an image online of officers guarding a courthouse with the caption ‘target acquired’.
He had also discussed a desire to torture and kill a U.S. or British soldier, said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of London police’s Counter Terrorism Command, saying the speed of King’s self-radicalisation was striking.
While in custody, King had made threats about ‘beheading an imam’ and ‘chopping staff to bits’.
Asked if police had arrested him just in time when they swooped in May last year, Murphy agreed.
‘I’m pretty happy to say it was imminent,’ he said. ‘It’s very clear to us that King was planning and had a firm intention and desire to carry out a terrorist attack.’
Police said they were alerted in April 2022 to the teenager, who lived with his mother and two sisters in Essex, northeast of London, by calls from several people who had become alarmed at his increasingly overt extremist behaviour.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC praised King’s mother, saying: ‘She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns for her son. That cannot have been an easy thing to do in the first place and in my view she [did] absolutely the right thing.’
He had carried out reconnaissance on a police station in Stratford, east London, watched officers on duty at train stations and the local court, and the day before his arrest he had filmed a nearby army barracks.
After his arrest, police found he had tried to buy knives and a sword online. They also discovered he had a backpack containing Special Ops glasses and gloves he had purchased, along with a flag linked to Islamic State and a balaclava.
In online conversations with an unnamed young woman on Snapchat he talked about becoming a martyr, indiscriminate attacks on the public and wanting to kill non-believers.
However, Murphy said he did not appear to be acting with anyone else and that King had attended a number of mosques where he had talked about violent jihad, but was challenged and warned about his behaviour.
While he had been expelled from school and had attended a specialist educational unit, he had no prior convictions and detectives said the cause of his radicalisation was a mystery.
Police seized a number of items from King’s home as part of their investigation
The barrister argued that despite such incidents of ‘offensive and abusive’ behaviour, King was ‘slowly and steadily’ disengaging from the excesses of extremism.
And in a prison phone call, King told his mother: ‘I’m not extreme anymore.’
Authorities had been tipped off about King through an anti-terrorist hotline and the Prevent counter-terrorism programme after he posted a video on a WhatsApp group on April 13 last year.
In it was an image of a male holding a knife with the words: ‘Those who said that there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying!
‘Our jihad will continue until disappearance until the day of judgment! Now the battle has begun and it will continue until the day of judgment. So take out your sword, O youth, and destroy the kufr.’
King was arrested at his home on May 18 by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command and his mobile phone was examined.
After being cautioned, he responded: ‘I don’t believe in the UK law, the only law I believe in is the law of Allah.’
He was subsequently charged with preparing an act of terrorism between December 22 2021 and May 17 2022.
Prosecutors alleged the plot was related to extreme Islamist beliefs and that King carried out surveillance at railway stations, police stations, Stratford Magistrates’ Court in east London and an Army barracks in East Ham, also east London.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC’s sentencing of King was broadcast on Friday afternoon.
The judge says if 19-year-old King is released at the end of the six-year minimum term by a parole board, he will be on licence and liable to be recalled to prison for the rest of his life.
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