Man admits London bomb plans

19-year-old Haroon Syed has admitted planning a bomb attack in London, and will be sentenced in June after a probation and psychiatric report. The teenager from Hounslow was caught after online dialogue with undercover British agents was revealed, with the Old Bailey hearing how Syed tried to buy weapons online and researched busy areas of London to target. Syed pleaded guilty to a charge of preparation of terrorist acts between April and September last year, believed to be an Elton John concert in Hyde Park on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Despite evidence against him, Syed’s defence said he had been groomed by radicals online, but had never intended to carry out an attack. Syed was descried as ‘highly vulnerable due to family history’, after his brother, Nadir Syed, was jailed in June 2016 for plotting a beheading on Remembrance Sunday in 2014.