Busy day at Westminster Magistrates Court.

Now that the great and good are being targeted perhaps their attitude might change. First from the Guardian

A man has appeared in court charged with a terror plot to carry out an attack at 10 Downing Street and kill the prime minister. Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20 (left in the sketch) , was accused of planning the bomb and knife attack in Westminster earlier this year. Rahman was also charged with helping Mohammad Aqib Imran, 21,(right in the sketch) who in turn was accused of trying to leave the UK to join the Islamic State group.

Each man was charged with one count of planning acts of terrorism, while Rahman was charged with a further count of assisting Imran.

They appeared in the dock at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday and spoke only to confirm their names, ages, addresses and nationalities. Imran, a British-Pakistani, wore a grey sweatshirt and trousers and had dark, curly hair and a beard. Rahman, who said he was Bangladeshi-British, wore similar clothing and had long, straight, dark hair.

Mark Carroll, prosecuting, said: “It is said Rahman planned to detonate an improvised explosive device within a bag at the gates of Downing Street on Whitehall, London and then seek to gain access to No. 10 in the ensuing chaos with a view to trying to kill the Prime Minister.

“The secondary attack on No.10 was to be carried out with a suicide vest, pepper spray and a knife. His purpose was to attack, kill and cause explosions. He had also carried out a hostile reconnaissance of the area as part of that preparation. The second and linked allegation involves Imran trying to obtain a fake passport in order to leave the United Kingdom with a view to travelling to Libya for hijrah.”

They were arrested in raids by the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command in London and Birmingham on 28 November. Neither man was granted bail. The case was sent to the Old Bailey, where the next hearing will be on 20 December.

And the Telegraph

A terror suspect allegedly encouraged extremists to attack Prince George at school, warning that “even the Royal Family will not be left alone”, a court has heard. Husnain Rashid allegedly used an encrypted message service to share a picture of the third-in-line to the throne next to the image of an Islamic State fighter and the address of the Prince’s school.

Rebecca Mundy, prosecuting, said the charges related to “two sets of conduct” on or before November 22. . . 

“A post, which we in this country will find particularly worrying, was a photograph of the young Prince George at the beginning of his school term, next to a silhouette of a jihadi fighter. Next to that was a caption, ‘school starts early’. It provides an address in Battersea for a school to which the young Prince attends.” The court heard next to the photo was the caption: “Even the Royal Family will not be left alone.”

The 31-year-old supplied practical assistance to would-be terrorists, including information on potential targets such as UK sports stadiums, Westminster Magistrates Court heard.

Rashid appeared on Wednesday pleading not guilty to one count of preparation of terrorist acts, and one count of preparation to assist others to commit terrorist acts. Rashid, of Nelson in Lancashire, was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on December 20.

Just in time for Christmas – Merry and Bright!