Isis terrorist planned to behead Theresa May in 'full frontal' suicide attack

An Islamic State terrorist who plotted to behead Prime Minister Theresa May during a “full frontal” suicide bomb attack on Downing Street is facing life in prison today.

Naa'imur Rahman, 20, planned to blast his way through the security gates in Whitehall and storm Number 10 while armed with knives, pepper spray, a gun, and wearing a suicide bomb vest.

Fuelled by hatred of the West, he aimed to kill Mrs May – either by beheading her or blowing her up during a Downing Street press conference.

Rahman spent two years cooking up the terror plot, which he began to hatch after his extremist uncle was killed in a drone strike while fighting for IS in Syria.

However, the men he believed were fellow extremists who had supplied him with a bomb vest and explosives-packed rucksack were in fact undercover officers from MI5 and the Met Police.

Rahman, who was feared to be “days away” from launching his terror attack and had conducted surveillance around Parliament and Downing Street, was arrested by armed officers as he collected the explosives – fakes that had been made to look genuine.

He denied the terror plot at the Old Bailey but was convicted today by a jury after nearly 13 hours of deliberations. Rahman let his long hair out of a manbun and slumped back into his chair as the verdict was delivered.

Rahman admitted midway through his trial that he had made a “sponsorship” video for his friend, Mohammad Aqib Imran, 22, who is accused of planning to travel to Libya to join IS.

The jury are continuing to deliberate on the allegation that Imran, from Birmingham, was also preparing terrorist acts, but convicted him of possessing a terrorist handbook.

Explaining Rahman’s plans for a terrorist atrocity, prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told the court the extremist expected to die in the "a full frontal assault on the gates and then the door of Number 10.

“He hoped for personal reward beyond death and in doing so to cause death and great fear in a place and to people symbolic of the country itself."

Rahman had been on the radar of the anti-radicalisation scheme, Channel, in 2016 over fears he was being influenced by an uncle who had gone to join ISIS in Syria. However, the then-teenager refused to cooperate with the programme.

His terrorist plotting was uncovered the following year, when his phone was seized in a separate criminal investigation and detectives saw messages from the teen’s uncle urging him to commit an atrocity.

Rahman began chatting online to an undercover officer, posing as an IS handler called Amir, and admitted his dream of joining a “sleeper cell” in order to murder the Prime Minister.

"My objective is to take out my target. Nothing less than the death of the leaders of Parliament”, he wrote, as he asked to be provided with weapons and bombs.

Rahman and Imran have been remanded back into custody as the jury continues to deliberate.

Rahman denied and was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism and pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct assisting the preparation of terrorist acts.

Imran, from Birmingham, denies engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism and the jury continue to deliberate. He denies but was convicted of and possession of a record likely to be useful to a person committing of preparing acts of terrorism.