Islamist teen 'targeted police officers and soldiers' with terror plot and shared clip urging followers to 'destroy non-believers'
20 January 2023, 11:35 | Updated: 20 January 2023, 11:40
A teenage boy from Essex has pleaded guilty to plotting a terrorist attack allegedly targeting police officers and people in the military.
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Matthew King, 19, carried out surveillance at an army barracks, police stations, magistrates' courts and a railway station.
King, of Wicklow in Essex, pleaded guilty to preparing terrorist acts at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Police learned about King after he posted a video to a WhatsApp group that called on young people to "destroy" non-Muslims.
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A male figure holding a knife said in the video: "Those who said that there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying!
"Our jihad will continue until disappearance until the day of judgment! Now the battle has begun and it will continue until the day of judgment. So take out your sword, O youth, and destroy the kufr."
Officers were alerted to the video via an anti-terrorist hotline and the Prevent counter-terrorism programme.
After being cautioned, King responded: "I don't believe in the UK law, the only law I believe in is the law of Allah."
The teenager was later charged with preparing an act of terrorism between December 22 2021 and May 17 2022.
Prosecutors alleged the plot was related to extreme Islamist beliefs and that King carried out surveillance at railway stations, police stations, Stratford Magistrates' Court in east London and an Army barracks in East Ham, also east London.
Prosecutor Gillian Curl said at an earlier hearing that no "specific act of terrorism" had been identified.
"He was preparing for an act against either serving on-duty police officers or military personnel," she said.
King has been in custody since being charged.
