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Mohiussunnath Chowdhury: Jihadist jailed for life for plotting London knife and gun rampage

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 29, had boasted of being cleared in a previous trial

A jihadist who plotted a knife and gun rampage at London attractions including Madame Tussauds and the Pride event has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 29, revealed his plans to undercover officers and bragged about being cleared of a previous sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace.

He was arrested three days before last year's London Pride event, and in February a jury found him guilty of terror offences.

The trial heard how he prepared for a potential attack by practising stabbing and beheading techniques, as well as booking shooting range training and trying to get a real gun.

His plans were discovered after the four undercover officers, posing as extremists, befriended him.

Chowdhury's plans were also said to have included targeting an open-top sightseeing bus, and using a van to kill.

The former Uber driver, from Luton, was cleared in a trial in December 2018 of slashing at police with a samurai sword outside Buckingham Palace the year before.

A police officer was left with a gash across his hand after he tried to wrestle the sword from Chowdhury.

That jury believed his claims that he had not intended to harm anyone and that he simply wanted to commit suicide, to be shot dead by armed police.

But just a week after his release he started posting extremist messages online.

In a conversation on 31 March last year, recorded by listening devices in a flat used by the undercover officers, Chowdhury told them he was ready to "go again".

He told the officers: "I haven't died yet, you know what I'm saying? I haven't got shahada [martyrdom] so it's even harder now subhanallah [praise god] because now I know what my family's been through."

"I should be in prison for 30 plus years," he said.

"I told them why I did it. I told them that they are filth, even in their own courts and yet after all that, every single person on the jury, Allah made them say not guilty, yeah, this is the imaan [faith], right."

His life sentence - with a minimum 25-year term - was handed down at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said evidence suggested there was a risk of an "imminent attack" with the intention of "multiple deaths".

Chowdhury's defence lawyer had previously argued he was an "attention-seeker" who "talks and talks, but doesn't do".

His sister Sneha Chowdhury, 26, convicted of one count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism, is still to be sentenced.