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Teen Islamist jailed for life at Old Bailey

By David Laycock • Updated: 02 Jun 2023 • 20:20

Matthew King was plotting a terror attack

Teen Islamist jailed for life at Old Bailey Credit: Twitter/@Fraser_Knight

Matthew King, 19, was today, June 2, sentenced to life with a minimum term of six years for plotting to stab police officers and soldiers.

Appearing at the Old Bailey, King from Wickford, Essex admitted that he had planned terror attacks having converted to Islam in 2020. He had left school with no qualifications and his new faith had improved his behaviour to begin with.

But he had begun to criticise his sister’s choice of clothing and attend mosques in combat gear. Some of the mosques had warned him or banned him but it was his mother, concerned about videos he had been watching, that turned him in.

Fraser Knight of LBC posted a picture of the now-sentenced Islamist on Twitter saying: “Sat in the dock at the Old Bailey with a now shaved head, teenage Islamist terrorist Matthew King has been handed a life sentence. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism in Stratford, East London, in 2022, with police believing an attack was imminent.”

King was spotted before his arrest surveilling potential targets including police officers patrolling Stratford Train Station and Rifles Army Barracks in London.

King was communicating via social media with an unnamed female according to the BBC, in which he talked about travelling to Syria to prepare for a Jihadi attack. The pair said they wanted to attack military personnel.

In her responses, the girl only known as Miss A wrote: “We can’t let them die quick tho. Slow painful death… I’ll guide you through it. Or bring him or her home.” But she later distanced herself from King saying she wanted to concentrate on her exams.
The judge, Mark Lucraft, today praised the actions of King’s mother for taking the difficult decision to report her son’s increasingly extremist behaviour. He had become obsessed with ISIS videos during the Covid lockdowns and was ready to carry out an attack when he was arrested in May 2022.

Police have noted a growing and worrying trend of young men in the UK becoming radicalised.

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Written by

David Laycock

Dave Laycock has always written. Poems, songs, essays, academic papers as well as newspaper articles; the written word has always held a great fascination for him and he is never happier than when being creative. From a musical background, Dave has travelled the world performing and also examining for a British music exam board. He also writes, produces and performs and records music. All this aside, he is currently fully focussed on his journalism and can’t wait to share more stories from around the world and beyond.

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