LONDON, Feb 13 - Two men have been handed substantial prison sentences after a jury at Preston Crown Court found them guilty of conspiring to mount an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England.
Prosecutors said the plot was intended to use automatic firearms to kill as many Jewish people as possible. They described the scheme as potentially more lethal than a December mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, a comparison used to convey the scale prosecutors attributed to the plan.
The convicted men are Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52. Their trial began at Preston Crown Court one week after a separate deadly attack on a synagogue in a nearby northwest city, Manchester, though the court proceedings were focused solely on the charges brought against Saadaoui and Hussein.
At sentencing, Judge Mark Wall imposed lengthy minimum terms. Saadaoui received a minimum of 37 years behind bars, while Hussein was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years. In handing down those terms the judge warned of how close the two had come to being able to carry out their plan, stating:
"You were very close to being ready to carry out this plan."
The prosecution case centred on the defendants' Islamist extremist motivations and their stated intent to employ automatic weapons to cause mass casualties within the Jewish community. The court record, as presented during the trial, indicates the seriousness with which authorities treated the threat and the scale attributed to the conspirators' intentions.
Details provided to the jury and reflected in the sentencing remarks emphasised both the specific targeting of Jewish people and the potential lethality of using automatic firearms in a planned attack. The judge's sentencing remarks underscored the proximity of the defendants to readiness to act, which informed the severity of the custodial terms imposed.
The case concluded with long custodial sentences intended to reflect the gravity of the offences and the risk the court determined the defendants posed. Beyond the sentencing, the record of the trial highlights prosecutorial characterisation of the conspiracy as an Islamist extremist plot aimed at mass killing.
Summary: Two men convicted at Preston Crown Court for an Islamic State-inspired plan to use automatic firearms to kill members of the Jewish community in England were sentenced to minimum terms of 37 and 26 years, with the judge noting they were very close to being ready to implement the plan. Prosecutors said the plot could have been deadlier than a December mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
- Key point 1: The defendants, Walid Saadaoui (38) and Amar Hussein (52), were convicted of plotting an Islamist extremist attack targeting Jewish people and received lengthy minimum prison terms.
- Key point 2: Prosecutors argued the plan involved automatic firearms and could have produced casualties exceeding those in the December mass shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney.
- Key point 3: The trial at Preston Crown Court began one week after an unrelated deadly attack on a synagogue in nearby Manchester; the court found the defendants were close to being ready to carry out their plan.
Economic and market considerations: The article does not provide information on direct economic impacts. The charges and sentencing relate primarily to public safety and the criminal justice sector; any market effects are not specified in the material presented to the court.