Britain’s youngest Islamist terrorist back in jail for breaking release terms
Britain’s youngest Islamist terrorist, who was jailed at the age of just 14 for plotting a beheading and massacre, is back behind bars.
The man, from Blackburn, Lancashire was described as a ‘deeply committed extremist’ when he was found to be days away from helping to stage an attack on an Anzac Day parade in Australia in April 2015.
Six months after the plot was uncovered he was given a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court, having admitted inciting terrorism overseas.
He was told he would only be eligible for parole in October 2020 after serving a minimum of five years in custody.
The man, now in his 20s, cannot be named for legal reasons and is identified only by the letters RXG.
He was arrested last month and is back in custody at a jail in the north of England after being found with a smartphone in breach of the terms of his release.
The nature of the material on his phone is not known but security sources said the fact that he had the internet-enabled device meant he would be held.
RXG had exchanged more than 3,000 encrypted messages from his Samsung phone instructing a jihadist in Australia, Sevdet Besim, to launch ‘martyrdom’ attacks during an Anzac Day parade in Melbourne in 2015.
The teenager was recruited online by Islamic State propagandist Abu Khaled al-Cambodi and took on the role of ‘organiser and adviser’, suggesting to Besim beheading or using a car and machete to murder police officers.
Australian authorities were alerted to the plot after British officers discovered material and decoded encrypted messages on the teenager’s phone.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: ‘Protecting the public is our number one priority so when offenders breach the conditions of their release and potentially pose an increased risk we don’t hesitate to return them to custody.’
There is no suggestion RXG has committed any further offences.
Sources said he had already had one ‘close shave’ on being recalled to prison, after he was located near an airport.
When RXG was jailed in October 2015, one expert concluded he posed a high risk of serious harm to the public including forces and emergency service personnel worldwide.
Jailing him, Mr Justice Saunders said the revelation that someone who was just 14 had been radicalised to the point of wanting to murder was ‘chilling’.
The court heard the defendant felt isolated in terms of his education and home life, and filled the ‘vacuum’ with religious extremism.
He had paid ‘lip service’ to the government’s attempts to deradicalise him and became ‘disengaged’ with the process.
Police found ‘disturbing material’ on electronic devices seized from his bedroom.
Anzac Day was chosen for the attack as it is commemorated each year on April 25, to honour Australians and New Zealanders killed in war.
Besim, then aged 18 and from Melbourne, pleaded guilty to a single terror-related charge and was jailed for 10 years at the Victorian supreme court in 2016.
Media are banned from identifying RXG.
The order would normally expire on his 18th birthday but he successfully won a High Court ruling in 2019 giving him anonymity for life.
The judge said experts had concluded that identifying RXG would ‘fundamentally undermine’ his rehabilitation.
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