Mohamed Al Bared: Student jailed for life for building IS drone

Conversations on Mohamad Al-Bared's devices demonstrated his support for IS, police said

An engineering student has been jailed for life for building a "kamikaze" drone for use by the so-called Islamic State terror group.

Mohamed Al Bared from Coventry hoped the device would deliver a bomb or chemical weapon.

He was convicted in September of preparing acts of terrorism.

Sentencing him at Birmingham Crown Court to a minimum of 20 years in prison, Judge Paul Farrer KC said Al Bared was a "committed extremist".

Al Bared, 27, from Kare Road in Coventry, had planned to join IS in West Africa.

He was told by the judge: "I have no doubt that you are still today a supporter of Islamic State.

"It is impossible to say whether you will ever surrender your extremist views. You are a dangerous offender from whom the public requires protection."

He added: "Your preparations were undertaken with a view to endangering multiple lives."

Al Bared had denied supporting IS, despite the device being found in a bedroom at his Coventry home along with a 3D printer capable of making parts for it.

Counter terrorism police recovered the drone which they said was able to carry explosives or chemicals to be used as a weapon in a war zone

Prosecutors told the court the single-use weapon that had a range of up to 5km (3 miles) was designed to deliver a chemical weapon or some other kind of device in IS enemy territory.

Observing that the design of the drone was "at best suspect and at worse fundamentally flawed", the judge said "this was a work in progress".

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a mobile phone were seized when Al Bared was arrested in January this year, leading to the discovery of encrypted online chats and other digital material, which exposed his support for IS.

The court heard he intended to develop a video-transmitting fixed-wing drone for terrorist purposes, before travelling to West Africa via Turkey.

Written material saying the idea for the drone was "somewhat inspired by the design of the Tomahawk missile" was put before jurors, in what the prosecution said was Al Bared describing his build process.

He had filled in an IS application form and set up a UK-registered company, purportedly to import Turkish food, to help plans for future foreign travel, the trial was told.

'Not suited to prison'

Before sentence was passed Al Bared's barrister, Alistair Webster KC, applied unsuccessfully for the case to be adjourned for further consideration of psychiatric reports.

"He is not a person suited to being in prison," Mr Webster said. "He is in a highly agitated state about the way things have gone.

"He finds the nature of some of the other prisoners extremely challenging."

However Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, welcomed the sentence.

"Mohamad Al Bared built a drone with the sole purpose of supplying ISIS with the means to cause horror and destruction," he said.

"This sentence means that a highly dangerous individual has been taken off the streets."