Sahayb Abu convicted of planning IS-inspired sword attack

Sahayb Abu and the kit he planned to wear in the attack

A former prisoner has been convicted of planning an Islamic State-inspired sword attack.

Sahayb Abu, 27, was found guilty by a jury of preparing an act of terrorism and will be sentenced on 9 April.

Muhamed Abu, his 32-year-old brother, was acquitted of failing to warn police about the plan.

Sahayb's preparations included buying a sword, a knife, balaclavas, fingerless gloves, and a combat vest, and paying extra to have the sword sharpened.

When placing the orders, he asked if the vest could stop bullets.

The defendant, from Dagenham in east London, also met an undercover police officer hoping he could provide access to firearms, the Old Bailey heard.

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Sahayb did not react as the majority verdict was delivered in his case and was remanded into custody. Muhamed, who was brought into court separately, wept and shouted out that his brother was a "clown".

Sahayb is one of several extremist siblings from the same London family:

• In 2015, two younger half-brothers, Wail and Suleyman Aweys, went to Syria to join the Islamic State group and are believed to have been killed in the fighting

• In 2018, another half-brother Ahmed Aweys and half-sister Asma Aweys and her partner were jailed for terror offences, including sharing Islamic State material in a family chat group

• Also in 2018, another half-sister was stopped trying to leave the UK with several children, using another person's identification documents

• The youngest half brother, a teenager, was also in a group chat in which Sahayb discussed violent extremist beliefs

Sahayb and Muhamed Abu were arrested in July in armed raids, hours after Sahayb had told an extremist chat group: "We need a 9/11 2.0."

The authorities had intervened to prevent delivery of the 18-inch (46cm) sword and protective vest.

Muhamed denied knowing that his brother was planning an attack.

Prosecutors said Sahayb's violent mindset was expressed in a series of homemade rap recordings in which he rhymed about "sending bombs".

Another lyric said: "I'm trying to see many Lee Rigby's heads rolling on the ground". Fusilier Rigby was murdered by two extremists near Woolwich barracks in May 2013.

Anti-clockwise from top left - half-sister Asma Aweys, half-brother Ahmed Aweys and younger brothers Suleyman (in white) and Wail Aweys

In some self-made films, Sahayb wore a mask and camouflage hat, which prosecutors said was an outfit he planned to wear to conduct his attack.

In one he says he's "just waiting on the body armour" that "will stop a bullet".

Sahayb told jurors he had created a rapper character called the "masked menace" as a joke, aspired to be a charitable figure like Captain Tom Moore, and claimed he could not have a radical Islamist mindset because he watched pornography.

The counter-terror investigation that first uncovered the activities of the defendants' half-brother and sister came about after police received a tip that Sahayb and Muhamed were going to burgle a jewellery shop, the court was told.

The pair, along with Ahmed Aweys, later admitted their part in the burglary conspiracy.

Evidence gathered by police showed family members justifying crime against "kuffar" (unbelievers), for the purpose of jihad.

The trial heard that Sahayb, after being released from prison in March last year, frequently accessed IS propaganda and used various social media platforms to boast about his violent beliefs.

CCTV image of Sahayb Abu in the hat, with his brother Muhamed

In jail, he had mixed with terrorist prisoners, including a man jailed for encouraging violence against Prince George.

In one online comment, Sahayb stated: "Islam is for war, hostage taking, killing infidels, fighting tyranny, taking war booty, taking women of the enemy as concubines."

He demonstrated particular hatred for Shia Muslims, railing against a specific UK imam, and searched online for the 2014 Camp Speicher Massacre in Iraq, when Islamic State forces killed more than 1,500 militiamen and Iraqi Army cadets, particularly targeting Shias.

Sahayb also joined a small private chat group, which contained the undercover police officer, in which members from the around the world glorified IS atrocities.

Using an alias, Sahayb discussed Osama bin Laden, the hate preacher Anjem Choudry, and lionised the killer who carried out the Westminster Bridge attack in 2017.

'The caravan left without us'

During a meeting with the undercover officer, Sahayb expressed regret at not going to Syria when he could have done, but said that two brothers had and they were martyrs.

On another occasion, the court was told, a surveillance team watched Sahayb and Muhamed meet in public and look at an online listing for the sword.

During message chats with Muhamed and their teenage brother, Sahayb said there was "something called biding your time waiting for right moments" and that Allah would make them "action men and not chatty men".

Referring to not travelling to Syria, he wrote "the caravan left without us".

Commander Richard Smith, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, described Sahayb as a "very dangerous individual".

He said: "I have no doubt in my mind of his murderous intent in preparing to carry out a terrorist attack."