Prosecutor says plot to attack rally in West Yorkshire last year would have led to 'a tit-for-tat spiral of violence and terror'
A planned terrorist attack on a far-right demonstration would have led to "a tit-for-tat spiral of violence and terror" that would have reverberated around the country, a court has heard.
Prosecutors at the Old Bailey said on Thursday that six men who have pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on a far-right English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in Dewsbury last year would have had a "powerful impact" on community relations that would still be felt today.
The court heard the mission was only abandoned when the group turned up after the EDL demonstration had finished.
In April, Omar Khan, 28, Mohammed Saud, 23, Jewel Uddin, 27, Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 25, pleaded guilty at Woolwich crown court to engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism.
A sixth man, Mohammed Hasseen, 23, pleaded guilty to the same offence and possessing a document likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
Dozens of EDL members gathered in a pub near the court for the start of the two-day sentencing process, as the group's leader, Stephen Lennon, and his deputy, Kevin Carroll, briefly went into the public gallery of court 12 to watch the beginning of the hearing. Barriers had been erected in the street outside the building amid a heightened police presence.
All the defendants, except Hasseen, had travelled in two cars from Birmingham to Dewsbury on the afternoon of 30 June with an arsenal of weapons hidden in holdalls in the boot of one of the cars. They were only caught on their return to Birmingham when their car was subjected to a routine stop on the M1.
Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema QC told the court that police found thousands of pieces of "extreme ideological material" when they searched the men's homes. He said it was clear they intended to cause serious injury and death.
"In the months leading up to 30 June 2012 these six men, all ideologically committed to radical Islam, planned to execute a terrible vengeance on the English Defence League for what they perceived to be the EDL's recent blasphemous words and actions against the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
"Their plain and now-admitted intention was to carry out a terrorist attack using a varied selection of offensive weapons: an improvised explosive device, two sawn-off shotguns, swords and knives."
Cheema told the court the men clearly wanted a violent confrontation with the EDL during which they intended to use weapons to cause "serious injuries and they anticipated, each one of them, that some victims may have died".
"It takes but little contemplation to realise that had the retaliatory attack gone ahead as planned it would have had a powerful impact on relations between different groups who for the most part live peacefully alongside each other in the UK, and that impact would probably have still been reverberating today.
"There can be little doubt that a violent attack of the kind intended to be carried out would have been bound to draw a response in revenge from its target and most likely would have led to a tit-for-tat spiral of violence and terror. The defendants anticipated as much."
Cheema said that if the men had not been caught they may well have gone on to attack another demonstration.
"There is no reason to doubt that had they not been caught, these six men would have pursued their aim of retaliation and proceeded to carry out their plans on a subsequent occasion."