A man has been jailed following an investigation by the Counter Terrorism Command
A man who was gathering together fireworks and other parts to make an improvised incendiary device has been arrested on a five-year custodial sentence after an investigation by the Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
The investigation found that Steven Bishop, a 41-year-old man from south London, had intended to combine the various components he’d collected in order to target a mosque in south-west London.
Bishop had previously pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to possession of an explosive substance with intent, as well as a collection of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
He will also be subject to terrorist offender notification requirements for 15 years following the conclusion of his five-year custodial sentence.
Bishop was arrested by Counter Terrorism detectives in October last year at his address in south London. Officers attended the address after police were contacted by one of Bishop’s key workers when he showed her images of items which he explained he was collecting to build ‘a bomb’. He also told her that he was intending to target a mosque.
Commander Clarke Jarrett, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:Â “From our investigation, it was clear Bishop stockpiled a quantity of fireworks and other component parts with the intention of creating a device that he was intending to use in a terrorist attack on a mosque.
“Thanks to the diligence of his key worker in alerting us we were able to intervene before he could progress with his plans any further and crucially, nobody came to any harm.”