Oxford Street terror attack plotter 'resisted' de-radicalisation

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):

A man who planned to drive a van into 100 people in London was working with a government de-radicalisation programme at the time, a court heard.

Islamic State (IS) supporter Lewis Ludlow pleaded guilty last August to planning the Oxford Street attack and raising money for terrorism.

But a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey has now heard he was engaging with the Prevent programme at the time.

Ludlow, from Rochester, Kent, told a contact: "They think I'm stupid."

The former Royal Mail worker, a Muslim convert, has also used the name Ali Hussain.

A phone, found in a storm drain near his home, contained images of "hostile reconnaissance" carried out at London landmarks, prosecutors said.

He was put under 24-hour police surveillance and then arrested in April.

The first of several attempts to engage Ludlow with Prevent had come in 2008 after he had been found carrying a knife at college, the court heard.

Ludlow, an associate of the convicted terrorist Anjem Choudhary, consistently refused to engage until early 2018 when he met an assigned mentor 16 times.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC, said an undercover police officer had observed Ludlow telling a contact: "I have been exaggerating my depression and they think I'm stupid. I'm naive but not stupid or mad."

In messages with a female contact, intercepted by police, Ludlow wrote: "I resisted the same programme twice in the past."

The woman had advised him to "be polite with them," adding: "Even if u dont believe it, fake it."

Ludlow, by then under intensive surveillance, replied: "Yes."

Police discovered he was communicating with a leading extremist in the Philippines, planning a multiple casualty vehicle attack in central London, and scouting targets such as the Disney Store on Oxford Street.

In a torn up note recovered from a bin hear his home, Ludlow wrote "it is a busy street it is ideal for an attack. It is expected nearly 100 could be killed."

Mr Heywood said images taken by Ludlow of various London landmarks were "an exercise in reconnaissance" to identify locations to carry out "possible attacks against civilians."

In January 2018, Ludlow bought a ticket to fly to the Philippines but he was stopped at the airport and his passport was seized.

He claimed he was going to the country as a sex tourist but was found to have been in communication with a man named Abu Yaqeen in an area with a significant IS presence.

In March, Ludlow sent him money via PayPal and created the Facebook account Antique Collections, which he was alleged to have used as a front to send money to south-east Asia for terrorism.

The Old Bailey heard he filmed himself pleading allegiance to IS and stated: "I spit on your citizenship, your passport, you can go to hell with that."

The court was also shown images of Ludlow at public events with prominent Islamic extremists Anjem Choudary and Trevor Brooks.

The hearing, which is expected to last three days, continues.