Jailed: Islamic extremist who 'radicalised himself by watching terrorist films in mental hospital'

Jailed: Trevor Mulindwa
Metropolitan Police
Ramzy Alwakeel22 December 2015
WEST END FINAL

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A wannabe suicide bomber was radicalised at a mental health unit in south London and tried to run away to join Al-Shabaab just days after being released.

Trevor Mulindwa, 21, was arrested in the prayer room at Heathrow Airport in September 2014 as he was preparing to fly to Somalia to join the banned group, Kingston Crown Court heard.

Nine days earlier he had been released on licence from Springfield Hospital, where he had managed to get around internet restrictions and view jihadist websites.

He was serving part of a 27-month sentence there for dealing class A drugs following a 2013 conviction.

Mulindwa, of Mitcham, also asked Muslim staff at the hospital which mosques he should attend to become an “extremist”.

Sentencing him to six years behind bars for engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts, Judge Peter Lodder QC said: “It is now clear that while in Springfield you underwent a period of intense self-radicalisation in which you repeatedly accessed, despite restrictions and close supervision, websites containing jihadi material – principally relating to Al-Shebaab activity in Somalia and Kenya – and films that glorified terrorism when you were prohibited from doing so.

“Furthermore, you asked Muslim staff [...] which mosques you could go to to become an extremist and you expressed an interest in becoming a suicide bomber.”

He added: “Willing, radicalised recruits with British passports who offer themselves to callous and sinister organisations such as Al-Shabaab constitute a serious threat to the security of this country.”

Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson told the court Mulindwa, who has a low IQ, was reported missing by his mother on September 14, 2014, and found by police while sleeping in the terminal prayer room three days later.

He was initially arrested for breaching the terms of his licence but it was later found he had bought flight tickets that would take him to Somalia.

Mr Jameson said: “Had Mulindwa not been intercepted he would have made his way to Mogadishu and, really, the only outcome available in Mogadishu was an outcome involving Al-Shabaab.”

The court heard how a psychiatric report found Mulindwa had a “low IQ and (was) vulnerable to exploitation”.

Defence barrister Julian Winship said Mulindwa was being treated for his mental health problems.

“Since being convicted he has stopped believing in Islam,” he told the court.

“He said: ‘I got arrested for it so I stopped.’”

Cmdr Richard Walton of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “Al-Shabaab have been engaged over the past years in a range of terrorist atrocities in Somalia and Kenya and have also in the past planned attacks against the UK.

“We are now faced with the challenge of radicalised British nationals attempting to join many different terrorist groups in a variety of different countries. We will continue to do all we can to stop their travel to prevent them becoming trained terrorists and potentially returning back to the UK as a greater threat with the intention of carrying out attacks here.”

Additional reporting by Press Association

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