Islamic State terrorist jailed for plot to kill Theresa May

Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 21, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years. Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 21, planned to bomb the gates of 10 Downing Street, kill guards and then attack Mrs May with a knife or gun.

He had pledged allegiance to IS and collected what he thought was an explosives-packed puffa jacket and rucksack when he was arrested last November.

The drifter, originally from Birmingham, thought he was being helped by an IS handler when in fact he was talking to undercover counter-terrorism police.

He was caught by a network of officers from the Metropolitan Police, the FBI and MI5.

Rahman, from Finchley, north London, was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism despite claiming he was set up.

During his Old Bailey trial, he admitted to helping a friend to join IS in Libya by recording an IS sponsorship video.

Following his conviction, he told a probation officer that he would have carried out the attack if he had been able to.

The “clever and cunning” young man had the potential to “operate below the radar to dreadful effect”, according to a pre-sentence report.

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave concluded: “Rahman is a very dangerous individual and it is difficult to predict when, if ever, he will become de-radicalised and no longer be a danger to society.”

The judge sentenced Rahman to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years.

For the IS sponsorship video, Rahman was handed six years in prison to run concurrently.

The judge stressed that the undercover officers involved in the case were “scrupulous” at all times and Rahman was the “instigator and author” of his own actions.

The trial had heard how Rahman was encouraged by an uncle who travelled to Syria to fight and who was killed in a drone strike last June.

His concerned mother had moved to north London to get away from their influence, and Rahman was referred to the de-radicalisation Channel programme.

But Rahman spun a web of lies to Channel and went on to plot his attack over the course of two years.