Man sentenced for preparation of terrorist acts

A man from Brighton has been sentenced at the Old Bailey after admitting to planning a terrorist attack.

Edward Little pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, at a previous hearing on 19 May this year.

He was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years before he’s considered for release.

He will also serve a total of four years’ imprisonment to run concurrently for a charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm with intent.

The court was told how he was just minutes away from purchasing a firearm when he was arrested on 23 September 2022 by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE).

Little was planning to use the gun to carry out an attack at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park.

The 22-year-old had already identified a named target for the attack and planned to shoot any police officers or soldiers who were present in the area at the time.

CTPSE's investigation found that Little had been communicating with people on a messaging app and had typically expressed violent and extremist views. It was also discovered that he was talking on the app about the attack he was planning discussing the weapons he was intending to buy and identifying his targets.

As part of the same investigation, three members of an organised crime group were also arrested, charged and jailed.

Head of CTPSE, Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright said: “Little’s plan to carry out an attack was in the final stages when officers arrested him.

Image: Ben Sutherland from Crystal Palace, London, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

“I have no doubt that lives were saved by the actions of those officers who were deployed to arrest him.

“These officers put themselves in harm’s way on that day in order to protect the public from the threat Little posed, and this is what officers across the Counter Terrorism Policing network and in forces across the UK do each and every day.

“It is clear from the thorough investigation carried out following Little’s arrest that he had the specific intention to carry out an attack to further his belief in an extreme Islamist ideology.

“Together with many partners across law enforcement and beyond, we work tirelessly to prevent and disrupt this sort of abhorrent behaviour.

“In this case, we not only stopped a potentially deadly attack, but also disrupted the work of an organised crime group selling a viable firearm and took that weapon and ammunition off the streets.”