Jury in 21-year-old's terror plot trial discharged

Alfie Coleman is from Great Notley in Essex

A jury in the trial of a former Tesco worker accused of planning a terrorist attack when he was 19 has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict.

Alfie Coleman was arrested by counter-terrorism police in a Morrisons car park in east London, moments after picking up a Makarov pistol and ammunition in September 2023.

The 21-year-old from Great Notley in Essex had pleaded guilty to possessing information likely to be useful to terrorists and attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition but denied he was preparing for a terrorist attack.

The Old Bailey jury was unable to reach a decision after 24 hours of deliberations and the judge set a retrial date for Wednesday, 8 April next year.

Jurors retired to consider their verdict on 22 July and were given a majority direction three days later.

They were discharged by Judge Richard Marks KC after a total of 24 hours and 19 minutes of deliberations over five days without a decision.

He thanked them for their consideration and said the case would have to be retried in front of a fresh jury.