Anzac Day terror plot: UK teen's plan 'would have caused deaths'

A plot by a Blackburn teenager to attack an Anzac Day parade in Australia would "in all probability" have caused a number of deaths if it had not been stopped, a court has heard.

At a sentencing hearing, Manchester Crown Court heard the boy encouraged a Melbourne man to behead police officers at a parade in April.

He had previously threatened to cut the throat of his teacher, the court heard.

The 15-year-old has pleaded guilty to one count of inciting terrorism.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is thought to be the youngest Briton guilty of a terror offence.

His lawyer said his offences were serious, but he should no longer be considered dangerous.

'Martyrdom video'

The boy was radicalised over the internet by Islamic State propaganda, and formulated the plot "from the bedroom of his parents' suburban home", prosecutor Paul Greaney QC told the court.

Anzac Day, held on 25 April each year, commemorates the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps' World War One battle in Gallipoli, and this year marked its centenary.

The Lancashire teenager sent thousands of online messages to an alleged Australian jihadist named Sevdet Besim, 18, including one suggesting he get his "first taste of beheading" by attacking "a proper lonely person", the court heard.

"There is no doubt" the pair planned to carry out the attack on the parade, and also made references to the production of a martyrdom video to use for propaganda purposes, Mr Greaney said.

The court also heard the defendant later told a psychiatrist he was convinced that if the police had not disrupted his activities "a massacre would have occurred".

Analysis

By Dominic Casciani, home affairs correspondent, BBC News

The boy, wearing a smart shirt and striped tie, sat quietly throughout the hearing - rarely turning to look at his lawyers or relatives who flanked him on either side.

With his hair styled and gelled up, he looked like any other average 15-year-old - except the evidence said otherwise.

When prosecutor Paul Greaney QC described him as dangerously radicalised, he didn't flinch - just looked on impassively at the hearing going on around him.

This is an extremely tough case for any judge to deal with - and Mr Justice Saunders made clear how difficult this sentencing is going to be.

On Friday he must sentence a boy for the crimes of a man. He has to consider whether the teenager can change - but he must also act to protect the public.

The court was told a well known Islamic State recruiter - Abu Khaled al-Cambodi- had instigated contact between the defendant and Mr Besim.

Mr Greaney said that was "indicative of the serious nature of the plot".

The court heard that in an exchange on 19 March, the defendant presented Mr Besim with three options - a gun attack on the police, a car attack on the police or a knife attack on the police.

Mr Greaney said: "Mr Besim expressed a preference for a combination of a car and knife attack and [the defendant] advised him to buy a machete and sharpen it, run over a police officer and then decapitate him."

Parades, like this year's event in Sydney, take place across Australia on Anzac Day

The defendant also referred to himself as "a planner" and suggested he was involved in multiple operations, the court was told.

The defendant, who is Muslim, was "undoubtedly a troubled young person" who had had a "difficult" upbringing and was regularly excluded from school, Mr Greaney said.

The prosecutor said:

• He had "strong religious convictions" and was disruptive when he attended a large secular school where most of the pupils were white

• He praised Osama Bin Laden and stated his own desire to become a jihadist and a martyr

• After being referred to counter-extremism project Channel and moved to a new school, he threatened a male teacher, saying he would "cut his throat and watch him bleed to death"

• Another male teacher logged a comment from the youngster that he was plotting to kill someone

• In 2014, the defendant pushed his phone into the face of a teacher, which the court heard was playing a video showing dead and bloody bodies on the floor

• He told a teacher: "You are on my beheading list".

'Smart phone' link

Mr Greaney added: "He also spoke of his desire to be a suicide bomber, stating that if he had to choose where to detonate his bomb it would be on a plane in order that he could maximise the fatalities."

A second referral to Channel took place in November 2014, but the youngster allegedly continued to threaten to kill teachers. He also reportedly described the Charlie Hebdo attackers as his heroes.

The court also heard the defendant had been in contact with radicals in the UK, Canada, France and the United States.

James Pickup, QC, defending, said he accepted "the seriousness of the offence he committed over a period of nine days in March of this year".

He told the court the defendant started accessing Islamic State propaganda after getting a smart phone and quickly built up a following online.

But the boy should not now be considered "dangerous" for the purposes of sentencing, he added.

The hearing is expected to conclude on Friday.