Matthew King Wiki – Matthew King Biography
Islamic State fanatic Matthew King, 19, was jailed for life with a minimum sentence of six years at the Old Bailey for planning a terror attack on British police or soldiers, after he was filmed exploring a train station and police. King, of Wickford in Essex, previously pleaded guilty to preparing terrorist acts between December 22, 2021, and May 17, 2022.
He carried out surveillance at police stations, train stations, a magistrates’ court, and a British army barracks, and was only a day away from embarking on a terrorist attack when he was arrested by police last year. Footage released by police after the sentencing shows King walking through a train station dressed in a black tracksuit and cap, filming a police officer from behind on a platform.
To mitigate this, his lawyer Hossein Zahir KC said King was “immature” and the possibility that he carried out a terror attack in the UK or traveled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State was “remote”. . But Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the 19-year-old that he poses a risk to the public and revealed a phone call King made to his mother after she was arrested in which she claimed she had done “nothing wrong.” “.
King, who converted to Islam during the COVID-19 lockdown and was quickly radicalized upon seeing extremist material posted online, an online image of officers guarding a courthouse with the caption “Target Acquired.” While in custody, King had threatened to “decapitate an imam” and “cut up staff”.
Matthew King Charged – Arrested
In handing down the sentence, Judge Mark Lucraft told King: “It is clear that you are someone who has developed an entrenched extremist Islamist mindset, extreme anti-Western views, and who intended to commit terrorist acts both abroad and at home.” abroad”. ‘His intention was not merely transitory but had been established for a period of six months.
Having reflected on the danger he poses to the public, in my opinion, there should be a discretionary life sentence. ‘The risks around you are clear and worrying. You’ll say some things to a professional and some things to the contrary, which means there’s no clear picture of when those risks might subside.’
He added: ‘I note that it would have been much easier for you to attack a police officer in the street than to join Isis in Syria and therefore of the two terrorist acts you intended to carry out, the first was more likely to the latter according to the tests. Establishing aggravating factors, the judge said King was “motivated by hostility toward non-believers,” was in contact with other extremists, used aliases to hide his identity, and ignored warnings from his family and others in the media. mosques.
King had also discussed wanting to torture and kill an American or British soldier, said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of London police’s Counter-Terrorism Command, saying the speed of King’s radicalization was astonishing. When asked if the police had arrested him just in time when he was attacked in May of last year, Commander Murphy agreed. “I’m pretty happy to say it was imminent,” he said. “It is abundantly clear to us that King was planning and had the firm intent and desire to carry out a terrorist attack.”
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Police said they were alerted in April 2022 about the teenager, who lived with his mother and two sisters in Essex, north-east London, by calls from several people who had been alarmed by his increasingly extremist behavior manifest of him.
Judge Lucraft praised King’s mother, saying: “She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns about her son.” That can’t have been an easy thing to do in the first place and in my opinion he [did] absolutely the right thing.” He had carried out reconnaissance at a police station in Stratford, east London, observed police officers service at train stations and at the local court, and the day before his arrest he had filmed a nearby military barracks.
After his arrest, police found he had tried to buy knives and a sword online. They also discovered he had a backpack containing Special Ops glasses and gloves he had purchased, along with a flag linked to Islamic State and a balaclava.
In conversations with an unnamed young woman on Snapchat, he talked about becoming a martyr, indiscriminate attacks on the public, and wanting to kill non-believers. However, Murphy said he did not appear to be acting with anyone else and that King had attended a number of mosques where he had talked about violent jihad, but was challenged and warned about his behavior.
After the sentencing, Scotland Yard described King as a “committed, self-initiated terrorist” who “self-radicalized” online during the Covid-19 pandemic. Commander Murphy, who heads the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “We had seen an escalation in Matthew King’s behavior, in recognition of him, in his online activity.”
“I really believe that this was an imminent terrorist attack. Without the help of the public and without the efficient investigation of my officers, officers from the eastern region, and members of the intelligence community, we would not have been able to stop what, to me, was an imminent attack.’ Laying out the facts at an earlier hearing, prosecutor Paul Jarvis described how King had developed an “entrenched extremist Islamist mentality”.
In his teens, King “dabbled with drugs” and was expelled from school after becoming aggressive, eventually dropping out of education altogether at the age of 16. Around 2020, he became interested in Islam and started attending mosques and watching Muslim videos on YouTube. By May 2021, his family noted that he had become more extremist and his mother was concerned that he was viewing hateful material online, Jarvis said.
He had developed a friendship with a girl, identified in court only as Miss A, whom he met online. He spoke of wanting to get her hands on an American or British Marine, telling the girl: ‘I just want to die a martyr.’ When Miss A appeared to support and encourage him, King replied: ‘I guess jihadist love is powerful. I just want to kill people. In a more graphic conversation, Ms. A talked about torturing, mutilating, and decapitating a soldier and then cutting off the body parts.
As part of planning his terror attack, King had created an online account with the retailer Knife Warehouse, searched for videos of Islamic State tactical knife training, and purchased “tactical gloves” and goggles. On one occasion, he walked into her sister’s room dressed in her combat outfit and asked her if she liked her clothes. King had searched the internet for terrorist assassins, including the Manchester Arena bomber and Jihadi John.
While planning acts of terrorism in Britain, King also expressed a desire to join the Islamic State in Syria and sought advice on a WhatsApp group on the best way to get there. His lawyer argued that despite incidents of “offensive and abusive” behavior, King was “slowly and steadily” disassociating himself from the excesses of extremism.
In a prison phone call, King recently told his mother: “I’m not an extremist anymore.” Authorities received information about King through an anti-terrorism hotline and the Prevent Terrorism program after he posted a video to a WhatsApp group on April 13 last year. On it was an image of a man holding a knife with the words: ‘Those who said there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying!
‘Our jihad will continue until the demise until the day of reckoning! Now the battle has begun and it will continue until the day of reckoning. So draw your sword, oh young man, and destroy the kufr’. King was arrested at his home on May 18 by officers from the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorism Command and his mobile phone was searched.
After being warned, he replied, “I don’t believe in UK law, the only law I believe in is Allah’s law.” He was later charged with preparing an act of terrorism between December 22, 2021, and May 17, 2022. Prosecutors alleged that the plot was linked to extreme Islamist beliefs and that King carried out surveillance at train stations, police stations, Stratford Magistrates Court in East London, and an army barracks in East Ham, also East London.
Commander Murphy said after the sentencing: “King was a committed and self-initiated terrorist who we believe came close to carrying out an attack.” He will now spend a lot of time in jail, where he does not pose a risk to the public.
“It is remarkable that this investigation began as a direct result of calls to the police from members of the public who were concerned about King’s extremist mentality, and this case is a powerful example of how vitally important public information is to counterterrorism investigations.
“The speed at which King radicalized himself and then began planning an attack was alarming, and calls from the public about King led directly to police arresting him for a deadly attack. “This case shows that people can and should have the confidence to report terrorism-related concerns to us – those calls really do make a difference, and law enforcement will act on the information to keep people safe.
“I would like to commend the work of the investigative team, which built the solid foundation of the case in the two weeks following his arrest, working under difficult circumstances to obtain the evidence necessary to charge King and ensure that he remained in custody from the outset. “. time of his arrest.
King’s sentence handed down by Judge Mark Lucraft KC aired on Friday afternoon. The judge says that if King, 19, is released at the end of the minimum six-year term by a parole board, he will be on leave and face prison terms for the rest of his life.
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