Teen Wanted To 'Harm' PM, Terror Trial Hears

A teenager accused of planning to behead a British soldier told police he would cause harm to the Prime Minister, an Old Bailey jury has heard.

Burstholm Ziamani, 19, was arrested on a street in east London on 19 August last year, carrying a large knife and a hammer inside a rucksack.

The court was told that Ziamani, from Camberwell, southeast London, had been on police bail after first being arrested seven weeks earlier for allegedly posting extremist messages on Facebook.

At the time of his first arrest, at his home in Camberwell, officers found letters he had written to his parents, which the Crown claims "expressed his intention to wage war against the British government".

Extracts from his first police interview were read out in court by Detective Constable Dhaval Bhatt, a Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer who conducted that interview.

Ziamani was asked by the detective: "What would you do if you saw David Cameron?"

The officer told the jury that the teenager replied: "I would cause him harm if he did not have security around him."

The court was also shown the objects recovered from the Muslim convert when he was again arrested on 19 August.

The 12-inch kitchen knife and large hammer were passed to members of the jury for inspection.

A black Islamic flag was also taken out of its plastic envelope and unfolded for the court to see.

Giving evidence, the arresting officer Detective Constable David Atkinson said he had been in an unmarked police car with two other colleagues.

The officer said they were looking for the teenager to arrest him for allegedly posting more extremist messages online.

The detective told the court they spotted Ziamani on Settle Street in east London, just 200 yards from the East London Mosque at Whitechapel.

After his arrest, DC Atkinson said he looked inside the rucksack the defendant had been carrying and discovered the knife, hammer and flag.

Although Ziamani refused to comment when interviewed by the officers, the court heard claims he later told a security officer at Wandsworth Prison that he had been "on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks when he had been arrested. He stated that he was going to behead the soldier and hold his head up in the air so that his friend could take a photograph."

Ziamani denies charges of preparing acts of terrorism. The trial continues.