East Yorkshire 'Anglo Jihadi' found guilty of planning terror attack

MAN CONVICTED OF TERRORISM-RELATED OFFENCES

- By MARK PAGE

A SELF-styled “Anglo Jihadi” from East Yorkshire who made jokes about entering a synagogue wearing a suicide vest has been found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack.

Jordan Richardson, 21, began planning an “atrocity” after developing an interest in an “extremist, fundamentalist” interpretation of Islam, with potential targets including Meadowhall shopping centre, a court was told.

Richardson, who prosecutors stated “regularly expressed a wish to kill Jews”, was detained while travelling to work in Howden last December carrying instructions for manufacturing mustard gas and a note reading: “Throw all grenades into crowd; Shoot bystanders; Stab anyone who comes close; Do not get taken alive.”

A jury at Leeds Crown Court heard that a crossbow was discovered at Richardson’s residence, while his internet browsing history revealed an “affiliation with extreme Islamist ideology, (including) material depicting and glorifying terrorist actions”.

The court was told that one potential target of the defendant, whose Instagram profiles included one named “Anglo Jihadi”, was Meadowhall shopping centre, in Sheffield, which was referenced in his social media posts.

Richardson, of Howden, claimed during the trial that his conduct was a type of fantasy and an escape from his everyday life, where he experienced depression and isolation, and that he was “role playing the character of an extremist”. However, prosecutors argued he “wasn't just an online fantasist” but rather an extremist who was “going to put his jihadi fantasies into reality”.