Isis-supporting husband and wife jailed for 26 years for planning UK terror attack
Ummar Mirza said he wanted to stab someone 27 times, while his wife fantasised about beheading Katie Hopkins
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An Isis-supporting couple who plotted to commit a terror attack in the UK have been jailed for 26 years.
Ummar Mirza, 21, planned to carry out a stabbing attack with the support of his wife Madihah Taheer, who said she fantasised about beheading columnist Katie Hopkins.
The married couple, from Birmingham, discussed their violent aspirations in messages exchanged before their marriage and bought a knife and life-like human dummy to practice for the atrocity.
Mirza, 21, admitted one count of preparing terrorist acts between January and March this year, while Taheer denied any involvement before being convicted of the same charge in October.
Sentencing Mirza to 16 years in jail with an extended licence period of five years, Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: “You had moved a long way down the road of preparation of a terrorist act of the lone wolf type.”
He said Mirza had moved from speculative ideas to sourcing equipment, targets and training, adding: “The harm which might have been caused is undoubtedly high.
“I am satisfied that you pose a significant risk of serious harm being caused to members of the public.”
Taheer, 22, was jailed for 10 years with an extended period of one year. The judge said her imprisonment presented a "personal tragedy", with her first child just five months old.
Mirza's sister, Zainub Mirza, was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for sharing Isis propaganda on social media.
The 24-year-old, of Eastfield Road, Birmingham, earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of disseminating terrorist publications in January this year.
Prosecutors told Woolwich Crown Court Taheer had bought her husband a martial arts dummy so he could practice stabbing techniques.
The nursery worker, who was pregnant at the time, squabbled with Mirza on WhatsApp about the cost of the knife he wanted to buy, telling him: “They all do the same thing.”
Using her debit card, she purchased a combat knife for £121, the dummy for £275 and a plastic “training” knife for £9.60.
The dummy, depicting a white man’s torso, was found in their home in St Agatha's Road, Birmingham, with slash marks on the forehead, across the throat and abdomen.
Mirza was arrested by armed police just days after the Westminster attack in March, but weeks before he also bought a cord to make a concealed harness for his knife and had researched potential targets.
The jury heard that the couple viewed and shared Isis propaganda and discussed extremist views before their marriage.
“Can we get married already ffs. I want u to kill ppl for me. I have a list,” Taheer wrote in September 2015.
Mirza replied: “The day of nikkah [marriage] I’ll kill em all. Give me the list. The only thing that stops me is we are not married. I will defo I’m not joking.”
On that list was Hopkins, a commentator known for her controversial columns on Islam, terror and migration.
“I fantasise about Katie Hopkin's head,” Taheer told her husband. “She’s the biggest kuthi [bitch] of them all.”
Mirza, a former accountant, had named Paul Golding, the co-leader of far-right group Britain First, as one of his targets.
In messages to his wife, Mirza said he wanted to stab someone 27 times, to which Taheer replied that “sounds so satisfying”.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the conversations showed Taheer was a “willing accomplice” who knew what her husband wanted to use the knife for.
Prosecutor John McGuinness QC said: “The evidence shows that these two defendants held a shared belief in violent pro-jihad, Isis extremism.
“They show evidence of supporting Isis, its methods, beliefs and aims.”
A stockpile of air guns and replica firearms were also found at Mirza and Taheer’s home, with his phone containing images of him posing with them.
Counter-terrorism police swooped after an MI5 operation tracking Mirza, who had expressed a desire to travel to Isis territory in Syria alongside his wife.
Prosecutors said Taheer and Mirza were “inspired by Isis” but there was no indication of formal contact with the group in the case.
They join several convicted terrorists who have plotted action at home after being unable to join the physical “caliphate” – a phenomenon experts warn is driving an increased terror risk as Isis intensifies calls for attacks.
Security services had braced for the potential return Isis fighters from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq, the vast majority of current terror cases involve homegrown extremists.
Isis issued its first formal call for women to carry out terror attacks and join fighting earlier this year, having previously restricted female followers to supporting its fighters and indoctrinating children.
Additional reporting by PA