Matthew King: Wickford Man who planned terror acts has appeal rejected

Matthew King, from Wickford, Essex, was jailed for life with a minimum of six years at the Old Bailey last year

A man who planned to attack British military personnel and join the so-called Islamic State has had a bid to reduce his life sentence rejected.

Matthew King, from Essex, was jailed for life with a minimum of six years at the Old Bailey in June last year.

His lawyers told a Court of Appeal hearing on Wednesday that his sentence was "manifestly excessive".

But judges dismissed his bid, and said King was "concentrated and focused" on committing terrorist activity.

Giving their ruling, Mrs Justice May said: "The degree of his emotional extremism together with his apparent readiness to engage in violence against non-believers remained very worrying."

She added: "This appellant had already had opportunities to moderate his beliefs, his own mosque had attempted to dissuade him from extremism ... but he persisted."

Matthew King's mother became concerned he was watching hateful material online

The Muslim convert was reported to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by his mother and was described as posing an "imminent" risk when sentenced by Judge Mark Lucraft KC.

He pleaded guilty in January 2023 to preparing terrorist acts between December 2021 and May 2022, namely at police and railway stations and a British Army barracks in London.

'Hostile reconnaissance'

The Old Bailey heard last June that King, from Wickford, first became interested in Islam in 2020 and was regularly attending a mosque in Stratford by May 2021.

But his family noticed he had become more extreme and his mother became concerned he was watching hateful material online.

He also struck up an online relationship with a girl known only as Ms A, telling her "I just want to kill people", "I just wanna die a martyr" and "I'm going to be training for jihad".

The pair also shared graphic plans of how they would torture, mutilate and behead marines.

King pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to preparing terrorist acts

Following his arrest, videos on King's phone were found of police officers and military barracks, which barrister Paul Jarvis described as "hostile reconnaissance".

At the Court of Appeal, Hossein Zahir KC, representing King, said Judge Lucraft had failed to take into account the defendant's age, then 19, when sentencing.

He also said that the prospect of King committing a terrorist act was "remote" and that the risk he posed was "manageable".

But Mrs Justice May said that King was "singularly pursuing" terrorist acts and that Judge Lucraft was "plainly entitled" to pass a life sentence.