British Muslim convert jailed for preparing acts of terrorism
Richard Dart and co-conspirators Jahangir Alom and Imran Mahmood were ‘committed fundamentalists’, says judge
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Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 April 2013 11.29 BST
Richard Dart, who refused to stand as he was sentenced, saying: ‘I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah.’ Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA
Three British Islamic extremists including a Muslim convert and a former police community support officer have been jailed for terrorism.
Richard Dart, the son of teachers from Dorset, and his co-conspirators, Jahangir Alom and Imran Mahmood, were sentenced at the Old Bailey for engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism. They admitted the offence between July 2010 and July last year at a previous hearing last month.
Dart was jailed for six years, Alom for four years and six months and Mahmood for nine years and nine months. Mr Justice Simon told the trio they held “radical Islamist beliefs and have shown yourselves to be committed to acts of terrorism”.
Mahmood and Dart were both given extended sentences, meaning they will serve two-thirds of their prison terms rather than half, and they will spend five years on licence.
Dart refused to stand when he was sentenced, saying: “I don’t wish to stand up. I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah.”
The judge said that they were all “committed fundamentalists” who would have been prepared to kill. He told Dart and Mahmood: “I’m satisfied to the required criminal standard that neither of you had ruled out an attack in the United Kingdom, and that you, Mahmood, were looking at arming yourself with a bomb.”
Dart and Alom travelled to Pakistan to try to get terrorist training, and took advice from Mahmood who had already visited the country. Dart, a former BBC security guard, also discussed bomb-making with Mahmood, and the military repatriation town Wootton Bassett as a potential target.
Police discovered fragments of text on Dart’s laptop that revealed that the pair had used the computer to have a “silent conversation” to avoid possible surveillance bugs. They would open a Word document and take it in turns to type, before deleting the text and mistakenly assuming that none of it would be stored on the machine.
However, forensic experts were able to plough through 2,000 pages of computer code to decipher fragments of what was said. These included Mahmood making a reference to Wootton Bassett and then adding “if it comes down to it it’s that or even just to deal with a few MI5 MI6 heads”.
Counter-terrorism teams also believe that the pair used the same tactic walking down the street with a mobile phone.
