Extremist guilty of plotting 'beheading' of British prime minister

A British man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State [IS] group was found guilty on Wednesday of plotting to behead Prime Minister Theresa May in a suicide attack.

Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, planned to bomb the gates of Downing Street, kill guards and then attack May.

Rahman thought he was being helped by IS handler when in fact he was speaking to undercover officers.

He had collected what he thought was an explosives-packed rucksack when he was arrested last November.

"Before his arrest prevented it, he was, he believed, just days away from his objective, which was no less than a suicide attack, by blade and explosion, on Downing Street and, if he could, upon the Prime Minister Theresa May herself," said prosecutor Mark Heywood.

In a chat with an undercover security service agent on the Telegram messaging app, Rahman said: "I want to do a suicide bomb on parliament. I want to attempt to kill Theresa May."

Rahman continued: "My objective is to take out my target. Nothing less than the death of the leaders of parliament."

He told an undercover police officer that he would make a "10-second sprint" for the door of 10 Downing Street, with his main objective to "take her head off".

Rahman earlier admitted helping his friend Mohammad Aqib Imran, 22, join IS in Syria by recording a sponsorship video.

Heywood said the two men shared the "warped ideology" of IS.