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'Silent Bomber' Mohammed Rehman and wife Sana Ahmed Khan sentenced to life in prison for London terror plot

The couple were said to be "days away" the attack before they were arrested by anti-terror police in May

Caroline Mortimer

Wednesday 30 December 2015 14:28 GMT

Mohammed Rehman and Sana Ahmed Khan, who were convicted at the Old Bailey on December 29, 2015 (AFP)

The 'silent bomber' Mohammed Rehman and his ex-wife Sana Ahmed Khan have been sentenced to life in prison for their foiled plot to stage a terror attack on a Westfield shopping centre in London.

The couple were found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Rehman, 25, was sentenced to serve a minimum of 27 years and Khan, 24, will spend a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Rehman was also convicted of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.

Mohammed Rehman used a 'Silent Bomber' Twitter profile to ask for advice on his terror plot (Thames Valley Police) (PA/Thames Valley Police)

The couple's plot - planned to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks on the London underground network which killed 52 people - was foiled when Rehman tweeted asking for advice on possible targets using the user "Silent Bomber".

An undercover investigator found the tweet which said "Westfield shopping centre or London underground? Any advice would be appreciated greatly" and struck up a conversation with Rehman who told him he was preparing for martyrdom.

Rehman - using explosives paid for by his then wife using payday loans and her wages - even detonated a bomb in his back garaden in prepartion.

He then tweeted pictures saying "test detonation of my keys to paradise :) 35 pounds of HME".

When British anti-terror police raided Rehman's home in Reading they found a Jihadi John-style hunting knife and chemicals for a massive bomb that was said to be "days away" from completion.

Rehman initially fled the house when police arrived at his door on 28 May but was stopped by police at the local Co-op.

At first he attempted to tell officers there was nothing dangerous in his home but then claimed he had a bomb in the house ready to detonate with the touch of remote controlled button as "nobody gets in the way of [his] jihad".

The couple are believed to have shared a "common interest" in extreme Islamist ideology and Isis. They had repeatedly researched the 7/7 bombings and Rehman had expressed the desire "to play his own part".

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Show all 14

1/14UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Oxford Street terror plot

Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad

EPA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Rosie Cooper MP plot

Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington

Hope Not Hate

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

'Poppy terror plot'

Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public. The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

National Action arrests

Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Shane Fletcher

A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque"

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Heathrow airport arrests

A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Extradition of Abu Hamza

Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act

Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests

Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a “significant plot”

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

October 2014 arrests

Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Anjem Choudary arrest

Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria

Oli Scarff/Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing

Police seize £250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014

Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Tarik Hassane arrest

A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Abu Qatada removed from UK

Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013

Reuters

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Haider Ahmed knife plot

Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019

Counter Terrorism Policing South East

The pair - who lived apart because her parents did not approved of their relationship - turned on each other during the trial and accused each other of being the real extremist.

The couple married in a secret Islamic ceremony in 2013 after meeting as teenagers despite university graduate Khan's mother warning her she would disowned if she married him.

Rehman was described as members of his own family as a "lowlife idiot" who spent most of his time bingeing on drink and drugs and was "notorious" in the local Muslim community as an extremist.

Additional reporting by PA