Essex teenager Matthew King who planned terror attack targeting police and military jailed for at least six years
A teenager from Essex has been sentenced to at least six years in prison after admitting he was planning a terror attack on the police and military.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC said Matthew King, 19, from Wickford, was a danger to the public.
Sentencing him to life, Judge Lucraft said King must serve at least six years before he can be considered for parole.
King’s mother, who reported her own son to the authorities because of her concerns about his behaviour, received praise from the judge during his sentencing remarks today.
Judge Mark Lucraft
King was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on 18 May last year, and charged with the preparation of terrorist acts.
He had told an online girlfriend about his desire to torture and kill an American or British soldier and had also posted an image of a police officer with the caption: “Target acquired.”
He had been scoping out targets and had previously talked about wanting to carry out a “mass casualty attack” on the public.
Detectives believe King had selected his target and was preparing to carry out an attack when they arrested him.
Judge Lucraft found King was a dangerous offender and carried a risk of future harm to the public, despite claims by his barrister the defendant was on the path to deradicalisation.
‘She had concerns for her son’
The court heard in his early teens King “dabbled with drugs” and was expelled from school after becoming aggressive, eventually leaving education entirely at the age of 16.
Around 2020, he became interested in Islam, began to attend mosques and watched Muslim videos on YouTube.
By May 2021, his family noticed he had become more extreme and his mother became concerned he was watching material online promoting hatred, Mr Jarvis said.
In 2022, police were alerted by calls to the Anti-Terrorist Hotline and local police from members of the public, telling them that King was becoming “increasingly extreme and unstable”.
King’s mother also reported him to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme.
Judge Lucraft praised King’s mother, saying: “She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns for her son.
“That cannot have been an easy thing to do in the first place and in my view she absolutely the right thing.”
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Matthew King was sentenced to life with a minimum of 6 years in prison
The calls to police were made between 14 and 18 April last year, after King shared a video on a WhatsApp group, according to prosecutors.
The video shared on 13 April featured a still image of a man holding a knife and the words on the screen: “Those who said that there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying! Our jihad will continue until the Day of Judgment!
“Now the battle has begun. So take out your sword, O youth, and destroy the kufr [infidels].”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command, said he believed an attack was “imminent” when they arrested King, four weeks later.
Mr Murphy said King was a “committed, self-initiated terrorist,” who “had radicalised himself in his room using the internet”.
King talked of killing British soldier and ‘non-Muslims’
A written plea document from the defence said King “actively desired” to travel to IS-controlled areas of Syria to join their activities, seeking advice on how to get there and using a WhatsApp group to discuss plans.
He had also made videos expressing his admiration for the terror group and said if his plan to go to Syria was disrupted, he would carry out an attack in the UK.
King also set up an account with the online store Knife Warehouse in an effort to buy a blade in December 2021, and in March 2022, bought “tactical” gloves and goggles from an army surplus store.
He had been spending a great deal of time online during the COVID-19 lockdown, using his phone to view a large number of extremist videos, including IS propaganda showing suicide bombers and mass executions.
‘Special ops’ clothing King purchased. Pics: Met Police
In conversations on Snapchat with a female friend, later recovered from his phone, King discussed his desire to travel to Syria to take part in violent jihad and talked about becoming a martyr, on a number of occasions.
King told the girl that he was training for jihad and wanted to kill people.
In one particularly graphic exchange, he talked about his desire to torture and kill an American or British soldier.
He also joined an online chat group, in which he discussed subjects including terrorist financing and different routes to travel out to Syria.
At one point, he updated his WhatsApp status to “Kill non-Muslims, wherever you see them”.
On two occasions between March and May 2022, King took a photograph of police officers in Stratford, east London, and on a third occasion, filmed the side entrance of Stratford Police Station as he walked past.
Last May he also made a short film of an army barracks in Stratford.
CCTV stills taken of King outside an army Barracks in east London. Pics: Met Police
‘I’m not extreme anymore’
Speaking on King’s behalf at the Old Bailey, the defence said King was “immature” and the likelihood of an act of terrorism was “remote”.
His barrister Hossein Zahir KC argued that despite such incidents of “offensive and abusive” behaviour, King was “slowly and steadily” disengaging from the excesses of extremism.
In a prison phone call, King told his mother: “I’m not extreme anymore.”
But police said King had a “firm intention and desire to carry out a terrorist attack” and had discussed committing indiscriminate attacks on the public, as well as showing a “sinister interest” in police officers and army personnel.
Mr Murphy said officers were struck by how quickly he went from developing extremist views to being almost ready to launch a terrorist attack.
Despite pleading guilty to preparing acts of terrorism, King was “somebody who doesn’t demonstrate any kind of remorse or regret for their behaviour or their activity”, Mr Murphy added.
He said the rise in young boys and men being investigated as counter-terrorism threats is “particularly concerning”.
UK
‘I have nightmares of dead bodies’: Patients dying and undiscovered for hours in hospital corridors
Patients are dying in corridors and going undiscovered for hours while the sick are left to soil themselves, nurses have said, revealing the scale of the corridor crisis inside the UK’s hospitals.
In a “harrowing” report built from the experiences of more than 5,000 NHS nursing staff, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found almost seven in 10 (66.81%) say they are delivering care in overcrowded or unsuitable places, including converted cupboards, corridors and even car parks, on a daily basis.
Demoralised staff are looking after as many as 40 patients in a single corridor, unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors, suction and other lifesaving equipment.
Women are miscarrying in corridors, while some nurses report being unable to carry out adequate CPR on patients having heart attacks.
Sara (not her real name) said she was on shift when a doctor told her there was a dying patient who had been waiting in the hospital’s corridor for six hours.
“It took a further two hours to get her into an adequate care space to make her clean and comfortable,” she told Sky News.
“That’s a human being, someone in the last hours of their life in the middle of a corridor with a detoxing patient vomiting and being abusive behind them and a very poorly patient in front of them, who was confused, screaming in pain. It was awful on the family, and it was awful on the patient.”
Dead patients ‘not found for hours’
A nurse working in the southeast of England quit her job after witnessing an elderly lady in “animal-like conditions”.
She told the RCN: “A 90-year-old lady with dementia was scared, crying and urinating in the bed after asking several times for help to the toilet. Seeing that lady, frightened and subjected to animal-like conditions is what broke me.
“At the end of that shift, I handed in my notice with no job to go to. I will not work where this is a normal day-to-day occurrence.”
Another nurse in the South East said a patient died in a corridor and “wasn’t discovered for hours”.
Sara told Sky another woman needed resuscitating after the oxygen underneath her trolley ran out. Sara was one of just two nurses caring for more than 30 patients on that corridor.
“I have had nightmares – I have a nightmare that I walk out in the corridor and there are dead bodies in body bags on the trolleys,” she said, growing visibly emotional.
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No electricity to plug in computers
One nurse, who spoke to Sky News, said the conditions were “undignified” and “inhumane”.
“It’s not just corridors – we utilise chairs, cupboards, whatever space is available in the hospital to be repurposed into a care space, in the loosest sense of that term. These spaces are unsafe.”
Some spaces, she said, don’t even have basic electricity for nurses to plug in their computers.
The nurse, who spoke to Sky on the condition of anonymity, said she has experienced burnout multiple times over the state of her workplace.
“I have come to the conclusion this week I don’t think I can continue working in the NHS or as a nurse,” she said.
“It breaks my soul; I love what I do when I am able to do it in the right way. I like caring for people, I like making people better, I also like providing a dignified death.”
She added: “I want to look after the institution I was born into, but for the sake of my family and my mental health, I don’t know how much more I can give.”
With 32,000 nursing vacancies in England alone, data also shows around one in eight nurses leave the profession within five years of qualifying.
Nurses are being forced to provide care in hospital corridors and car parks. Pic: PA
Staff ‘not proud of the care they are giving’
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says the testimony, which runs to over 400 pages, must mark a “moment in time”. In May 2024, the RCN declared a “national emergency” over corridor care in NHS services.
Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN general secretary and chief executive, said: “At the moment, [nursing staff] are not proud of the care they are giving.”
“We hear stories of escalation areas and temporary beds that have been open for two years,” she added. “That is no longer escalation, it’s understaffed and underfunded capacity that is pretty shocking care for patients. We have to get a grip on that.”
Read more: Hospital advertises for corridor nurse amid NHS winter crisis
She called the situation “a disgrace”, citing abuse of staff as another reason for people leaving the profession in droves.
Last week, a nurse was left with “life-changing injuries” after being stabbed by a man while at work.
“The NHS used to be the envy of the world and we need to take a long hard look at ourselves and say ‘what needs to change?’
“The biggest concern for us is that the public Is starting to lose a little faith in their care, and that has to stop. We absolutely have to sort this out.”
Commenting on the RCN’s report, Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England, said the NHS had experienced one of the “toughest winters” in recent months, and the report “should never be considered the standard to which the NHS aspires”.
“Despite the challenges the NHS faces, we are seeing extraordinary efforts from staff who are doing everything they can to provide safe, compassionate care every day,” he added. “As a nurse, I know how distressing it can be when you are unable to provide the very best standards of care for patients.”
Have you experienced corridor care in an NHS hospital? Get in touch on NHSstories@sky.uk
Singer Linda Nolan, who rose to fame alongside her sisters in The Nolans, has died after several years of battling cancer.
The Irish star, 65, and her sisters Coleen, Maureen, Bernie, Denise and Anne, had a run of hits in the late 1970s and ’80s – including the disco classic I’m In The Mood For Dancing.
Paying tribute on The Nolans‘ X account, her sisters described her as “a pop icon and beacon of hope”, who “faced incurable cancer with courage, grace and determination, inspiring millions”.
Linda died peacefully in hospital this morning, “embraced with love and comfort” with her siblings by her side, her agent Dermot McNamara said in a statement.
“As a member of The Nolans, one of the most successful girl groups of all time, Linda achieved global success; becoming the first Irish act to sell over a million records worldwide, touring the world and selling over 30 million records,” he said.
“Her distinctive voice and magnetic stage presence brought joy to fans around the world, securing her place as an icon of British and Irish entertainment.”
As well as her TV and musical career, Linda helped to raise more than £20 million for numerous charities, including Breast Cancer Now, Irish Cancer Society, Samaritans and others.
“Her selflessness and tireless commitment to making a difference in the lives of others will forever be a cornerstone of her legacy,” Mr McNamara said.
Five of the Nolans in 1983 (L-R): Linda, Anne, Bernie, Coleen and Maureen. Pic: PA
Linda’s death came after she was admitted to hospital with pneumonia over the weekend. She began receiving end-of-life care after slipping into a coma on Tuesday.
Details of a celebration of the star’s “remarkable life” will be shared in due course.
Linda was born to Tommy and Maureen Nolan in Dublin on 23 February 1959, the sixth of eight children.
Her parents were both singers and keen to turn their young family into a musical troupe. Linda made her stage debut aged just four.
Those early years put the siblings on track for a career in show business which lasted for decades. As well as I’m In The Mood For Dancing, The Nolans had hits with Gotta Pull Myself Together, Attention To Me and Don’t Make Waves, and they also had their own TV specials.
At their height, they toured with Frank Sinatra and were reported to have outsold The Beatles in Japan.
Linda left the group in 1983, but later reformed with her sisters for several comeback performances. She also became known for musical theatre, most notably performing the role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers for three years from 2000.
L-R: Bernie, Denise, Linda (top), Anne and Maureen Nolan pictured in 1975, before youngest sister Coleen joined the group
Four siblings struck by cancer
Linda was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and underwent a mastectomy two days before her 47th birthday.
After being given the all-clear in 2011, in 2017 she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer. Three years later, Linda and Anne together revealed they were being treated for cancer once again.
The sisters were diagnosed with different forms of the disease just days apart after they returned home from filming a series of their show, The Nolans Go Cruising. Linda had cancer of the liver, while Anne had breast cancer.
The star, pictured last year, had battled cancer for several years. Pic: Shutterstock
They went on to write Stronger Together, an account of their journey that included frank details of their treatments and the side effects.
But in 2023, Linda revealed the cancer had spread to her brain and she was beginning treatment as part of a new drug trial.
The Nolans lost their second-youngest sister, Bernie, to cancer in 2013, aged 52.
Loose Women star Coleen Nolan also revealed she was diagnosed with skin cancer last year, and said she was using a chemotherapy cream to remove it.
Linda’s husband of 26 years, Brian Hudson, died in 2007 after being diagnosed with skin cancer.
Anne Nolan is now cancer-free.
Tributes to star ‘who was always a joy’
TV star and singer Cheryl Baker and comedian Tommy Cannon are among those who have paid tribute.
“I’m heartbroken to hear about the passing of Linda Nolan,” Cannon wrote on X. “I had the pleasure of working with her on so many occasions, and she was always a joy – full of warmth and love. My thoughts and love are with the Nolan girls and the whole family.”
“The most incredible voice, the wickedest sense of humour, such a massive talent,” Baker wrote. “You’re with Brian now, Lin.”
Loose Women also sent its love to her family. Linda appeared as a guest panellist on the ITV chat show over the years, alongside her sister Coleen.
The Blackpool Grand Theatre described her as “a true Blackpool icon”.
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