Internet dating couple jailed for plotting IS attack in Britain
Munir Mohammed enlisted the help of pharmacist Rowaida El-Hassan, drawing on her knowledge of chemicals needed to make a bomb.
A lonely hearts couple have been jailed for plotting an Islamic State-inspired bomb or ricin attack over the Christmas holidays.
Sudanese asylum seeker Munir Mohammed volunteered for a “lone wolf” UK mission in a Facebook chat with an IS commander.
He enlisted pharmacist Rowaida El-Hassan to help find ingredients for a bomb after seeking her out on dating website SingleMuslim.com.
At the time of his arrest in December 2016, Mohammed had two of the three components for TATP explosives as well as manuals on how to make bombs and ricin poison.
Judge Michael Topolski QC sentenced Mohammed to life with a minimum of 14 years.
The judge highlighted Mohammed’s “vast store” of IS propaganda depicting the “abhorrent” acts of murder, including nearly 26,000 images on his phone.
El-Hassan never objected to being sent the material as her two children slept in her bedroom, and even asked for more, the judge said.
Even though Mohammed introduced extremism in their relationship, El-Hassan “embraced it and became more and more absorbed by it to the point she became an enthusiastic and encouraging partner”, he said.
“You had not decided whether that would be made with an ordinary bomb or whether you could do more damage and more terror by exploding a device containing ricin.”
He “carefully and deliberately drew El-Hassan in to the point where her commitment was “consistent and sustained”, the judge said.
