Six men jailed over EDL attack plot

Police vans believed to be carrying the Islamic extremists arrive at the Old Bailey. Picture: PA

Six men were jailed at the Old Bailey after travelling to the rally in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in June last year armed with an arsenal of weapons including two shotguns, swords, knives, a nail bomb and a partiallyassembled pipe bomb.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC asked the men: “How was it that you became involved in a crime of this gravity?

“At least part of the answer to that question must come in the tide of apparently freely available extremist material in which most of you had immersed yourselves.”

The six men who were jailed. Picture: PA

Jewel Uddin, 27; Omar Mohammed Khan, 31; Mohammed Hasseen, 24, Anzal Hussain, 25; Mohammed Saud, 23 and Zohaib Ahmed, 22, who are all from the West Midlands, had admitted planning the attack at a hearing on 30 April.

Khan, Uddin and Ahmed were jailed for 19-and-a-half years with an extended licence period of five years, and the other three were given jail terms of 18 years and nine months and an extended licence period of five years.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson and his deputy Kevin Carroll called out “God save the Queen” from the public gallery at the end of yesterday’s hearing. A woman broke down in tears, while supporters of the defendants shouted “Allahu Akbar”.

The judge said the extremist material was “not difficult either to obtain or share”. He said: “In this case, it can only have served to reinforce the defendants’ resolve to behave in the hideous way that was planned”.

All the men will serve at least two-thirds of the jail terms before they can be considered for parole. They were imprisoned on the third day of the sentencing process.

All of the men except Hasseen went to Dewsbury where an EDL rally was taking place on 30 June last year, ready to cause mass injuries and deaths.

The gang’s plan failed only because the event finished earlier than expected – they arrived at about 4pm when it was over shortly after 2pm.

Judge Hilliard said: “There is no reason to suppose that a further attempt may not have been made in the future had the defendants not been apprehended. I find it inconceivable that your resolve would have evaporated.”

He went on: “You intended to engage in a violent confrontation with those attending the EDL rally and use the weapons and the IED [improvised explosive device] to cause serious injuries, and you anticipated that some victims may have died.”

As well as targeting EDL supporters, police and members of the public could have been caught up in the bloodshed, the court heard.

The judge said that if the attack had succeeded, it could have sparked “a spiral of tit-for-tat violence”.

He said: “That is a particularly serious aspect of this case. That simply cannot be an aspect of life in a society where the overwhelming majority choose to live in harmony with their fellow men and women.”

Hasseen admitted a separate charge of possessing extremist documents, for which he was given two years to run concurrently.

Ahmed was also convicted last September of possessing such material, and had been released on bail eight days before the planned attack.

Two of the men, Khan and Uddin, were stopped by chance as they travelled back to Birmingham from Dewsbury after their bloody plan had failed.

A police officer pulled their Renault Laguna over because it looked old, and the car was flagged up as uninsured because the gang had entered the registration number incorrectly by one digit on an online form.

The car was taken to a pound near Sheffield and it was two days later that staff there discovered the plotters’ deadly arsenal. As well as the weapons, they had ten copies of a hate-filled note referring to Prime Minister David Cameron and the Queen.

The note was addressed to the enemies of Allah and his messenger and referred to the Queen as the “kafir [non- believer] female devil”.

It also called the EDL the English Drunkards League, and in a direct message said: “O enemies of Allah! We have heard and seen you openly insulting the final Messenger of Allah … you should know that for every action there is a reaction.

“Today is a day of retaliation [especially] for your blasphemy of Allah and his Messenger Muhammad. We love death more than you love life. The penalty for blasphemy of Allah and his Messenger Muhammad is death.” It called on Muslim youth to rise up and defend their faith.

The judge said he had seen and heard material linked to  Islamophobic obscenities used at some EDL events, but violence was not the right response.

He had given consideration as to whether to jail the men for life, but by “a narrow margin” could instead impose extended sentences. These are used when there is a perceived continuing risk of danger to the public.