Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the life jail terms for two men who planned a ‘horrifying’ Islamic State-inspired gun attack on a mass gathering of Jews in Manchester.
Two men who plotted the ‘worst ever’ terror attack on British Jews were today jailed for a total of 63 years.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were thwarted when they unknowingly laid bare their scheme to an undercover operative.
Their terrorist preparations were unconnected to the October attack at the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, where two worshippers, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed.
Writing on social media site X in response to the sentencing, the Prime Minister said: ‘Good. This is a horrifying case.
‘I want to thank law enforcement for bringing these vile cowards to justice and reassure our Jewish community that we will never relent in our fight against antisemitism and terror.’
Sir Stephen Watson, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said Jews ‘have more justification to be fearful than anybody else’, which he said needed to be addressed.
In a chilling reminder of how rising anti-Semitism since the October 7 massacre is fuelling violence against Jewish communities in the UK, migrants Hussein and Saadaoui had sought to buy a stash of firearms and over 900 rounds of ammunition.
Amar Hussein (left) Walid Saadaoui pictured in Dover as they plotted a mass casualty gun attack on Jewish target
Plotters Walid Saadaoui, 38, left, and Amar Hussein planned to slaughter British Jews in a twisted revenge for Israel’s military response to the October 7 attacks
But what police chiefs described as their ‘genuinely chilling’ plot was foiled by an ‘exceptionally brave’ undercover operative (UCO) sent to infiltrate the terror cell.
Footage shows the moment Hussein pledges his allegiance to ISIS, saying they are ‘real Muslims’.
Further new footage shows detectives finally telling Saadaoui that he has been duped, and that the man he regarded as an armourer and fellow terrorist has in fact been secretly recording all their conversations.
Jailing both men for life today, Mr Justice Mark Wall ordered Saadaoui to serve a minimum of 37 years and told Hussein he would spend at least 26 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Chief Constable Sir Stephen warned of the threat to Jewish communities, saying that they ‘put up with a way of life in our country today that nobody else has to put up with’.
He said: ‘We have seen the terrorist atrocity in Manchester at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. We have seen the events on Bondi Beach in Sydney.
‘We are seeing the manifestation of hatred moving beyond our shores globally and this is a threat to all of us.
‘It is a threat to our Jewish communities and if our Jewish communities are under threat we are all under threat.
‘And we all owe to our Jewish friends and neighbours a steadfast duty to stand with them in all circumstances, and that is certainly what we do as part of Greater Manchester Police, the counter-terrorism network and beyond.’
A selfie video taken by Amar Hussein during a trip to Dover in Kent
Footage issued by police showing the arrest of Walid Saadaoui
He went on: ‘Our Jewish communities put up with a way of life in our country today that nobody else has to put up with.
‘I do think there is something very significant in that, something very significant in the realisation of it and we all, I think, need to question ourselves afresh as the dynamic continues to change as to what we are doing continues to be adequate.
‘But of course the best course of form of defence in this consequence is to attack those who are intent on doing harm to our Jewish friends and neighbours, because it is still the case that it is a tiny minority of people so radicalised, so full of hatred that they would do these sorts of things.
‘And rather than trying to boil the ocean, that has to be the point of attack but I think there are some questions that we all have to ask ourselves as a society, as leaders within society, and we ask ourselves those questions within policing and counter-terrorism policing literally on a weekly basis.’
Fuelled by a twisted desire to exact revenge for Israel‘s military response to the Hamas atrocity on Britain’s streets, the extremists planned to gun down participants at a march against anti-Semitism in Manchester.
Harpreet Sandhu KC, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court that the case had fallen between two other attacks on the Jewish community – one at a synagogue in Manchester and the other on Bondi Beach in Sydney – but stressed it ‘could have been very much more serious.’
‘I say this to demonstrate how widely affected the Jewish community and the world would have been had these terrorists’ ambitions been realised,’ the barrister added.
‘Had the preparations for mass murder been enacted, the defendants would have committed one of the deadliest attacks involving firearms in the UK’s history and certainly the worst firearms attack against the Jewish community.’
Tunisian-born Saadaoui – a former hotel entertainer who once ran an Italian restaurant in Great Yarmouth – and Hussein – who claimed to be a former Iraqi soldier and told police he was ‘proud’ to be a terrorist – planned to target schools and synagogues in the Manchester’s Jewish community.
The jihadists had spent six months in contact with ‘Abu Bilal’, unaware he was an undercover operative (UCO).
The UCO, who gave evidence under the pseudonym Farouk, duped them into believing a cache of assault rifles, handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition was being transported to the UK via a cross-Channel ferry.
He first engaged with Saadaoui online, then began meeting him in person, telling his bosses he believed ‘a lot of people’ would be killed if they failed to intervene.
Police were so worried about the UCO’s safety they established a huge armed operation to protect him.
Armed officers followed the UCO as he travelled with the men from Greater Manchester to the White Cliffs National Trust nature reserve near Dover, posing as tourists to observe the security checks at the port below, where the weapons were to be imported from France.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said the UCO ‘put himself in significant danger each time he met with two would-be terrorists. At any point he could have become a target himself.’
But he managed to conceal his identity and, unbeknown to the plotters, the apparently deadly arsenal consisted of deactivated guns.
Simultaneously, Hussein was arrested at his electrical business.
Under questioning, Hussein – who told detectives he was ‘proud’ to be a terrorist – was asked if he supported ISIS, the bloodthirsty terrorist group also known as Islamic State.
Admitting he does, Hussein tells police: ‘All Muslims, they are hypocrites, but ISIS, they are real Muslims, they make Sharia.’
He later added: ‘I’m proud, be terrorist here, I’m proud. It’s not from us, god sent to us. We are army from god.’
At his own interview, Saadaoui is finally informed that he has been duped by ‘Abu Bilal’ and that he was in fact working undercover for counter-terror police.
The UCO was so convincing that initially, arrogant Saadaoui failed to believe them, adding: ‘I’ll still call him my mate cause I’ve bonded with him, he was a good guy.’
Breathing heavily at the bombshell news, he can be seen sticking to his story, telling detectives: ‘Whether he’s undercover or not, I was not expecting any guns to come over, I was not involved in any planning of harming people, and what I’ve said to you is true.’
Walid Saadaoui is pictured in Dover. He has been convicted of plotting a gun attack on a mass gathering of Jews
A photo issued by Greater Manchester Police of weapons seized during the arrest of Saadaoui
A BB gun seized from the property of Saadaoui after his arrest
After an 11-week trial, jurors took just one day to convict Hussein, 52, and Saadaoui, 38, of preparation of terrorist acts last December.
Saadaoui’s brother Bilel, 35 – who knew about the plot but failed to alert authorities – was found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism. He was jailed for six years.
Tunisian-born Walid Saadaoui ‘hero-worshipped’ Abdelhamid Abaaoud, mastermind of the Paris attacks.
A former hotel entertainer, he moved to Norfolk on a spousal visa in 2012 after marrying a British woman.
After working at a holiday park, in 2018 he and his wife bought the Albatross Restaurant for £25,000.
But they later split, selling their house in the seaside town for £169,000.
After moving to Wigan and marrying a second British woman, Saadaoui became obsessed with replicating the 2015 atrocity in which 130 people were killed.
Bodyworn camera footage showing the arrest of plotter Walid Saadaoui’s brother Bilel, who was found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.
Footage of weapons sent by an undercover operative to Walid Saadaoui
In that chilling conversation, he said he had an ‘overwhelming urge’ to kill and was also recorded saying that if Muslims ‘all over the world’ attacked ‘the Jewish people, honestly they wouldn’t do what they do in Gaza now’.
After working briefly at a discount store called Bonkers Prices, Saadaoui gave up work and claimed Universal Credit.
He came under suspicion in the wake of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 due to his hate-filled social media posts.
Among material he posted online was a video of a disabled man, dressed in military fatigues with an AK-47 rifle on his lap, saying farewell to his children.
Saadaoui also prepared for his own martyrdom by creating a will, ensuring that his bank accounts were empty and that his family would be provided for financially.
By the time of his arrest, he had got rid of his birds and had visited his mother in Tunisia for a final time, Mr Sandhu said.
He also talked about using a knife to carry out an attack but relented, the barrister added.
‘Not because he thought better of carrying out a terrorist attack, but because that weapon would not allow him to carry out as ferocious an attack as he would have wished,’ Mr Sandhu said.
Fellow plotter Hussein came to Britain in 2007 and was given leave to remain in 2015, setting up an electrical appliance business in Bolton.
In November 2023, police launched an investigation codenamed Operation Catogenic with the UCO befriending Saadaoui on social media.
‘Abu Bilal’ said his contacts in Morocco could supply the men with Kalashnikov assault rifles, to which Saadaoui demanded 1,200 rounds and four automatic weapons, saying one firearm was ‘not enough for us’.
Saadaoui also worked on his fitness and trimmed his beard to ‘blend in’ and look more westernised.
Before becoming a committed jihadi, mastermind Walid Saadaoui owned this restaurant in Great Yarmouth
A police officer standing guard outside Walid Saadaoui’s house near Wigan after the raids in May 2024
Meanwhile, he withdrew £90,000 from the sale of his business and property, keeping cash in safes, and attended an air rifle range.
In March 2024 Saadaoui and Hussein drove a rented car to Dover to look at the ‘security set-up’, posing as tourists.
The following day the UCO joined the plotters for ‘hostile reconnaissance around North Manchester’ – Saadaoui told him the area was ‘full of Jews’.
Chillingly he bragged: ‘We start with the Jews and if there any Christians caught in the act, that is a bonus but we start with the Jews.’
They walked past Jewish nurseries, schools, restaurants, coffee shops and synagogues, even entering a kosher supermarket.
He also showed the UCO a rented safehouse which he planned to use as his command centre.
But by now, the trap had been set.
On May 7, 2024 Walid Saadaoui met with Hussein and drove to Dover to watch movements in the port.
He then drove his Peugeot to a hotel in Bolton to take delivery of the weapons from ‘Abu Bilal’.
Seconds later, police bodyworn footage shows him running 20 yards before he was grabbed by armed officers and brought to the ground.
His brother Bilel – who was arrested at his gym – had received a copy of his brother’s will and a key to a hidden safe.
Searches of Walid Saadaoui’s home near Wigan uncovered two safes, one containing £15,000 cash and a copy of his will.
A second, concreted into a floor outside, contained £77,000 cash.
Hussein failed to turn up for his trial after the first day and also refused to come to court to be sentenced.
His barrister, Danny Robinson KC, told the court: ‘I have no mitigation to put forward on Mr Hussein’s behalf – he has asked me not to make any mitigation.’
Felicity Gerry KC, defending Saadaoui, said he wanted to apologise ‘to the Jewish community at large’ for what he had said, but still maintained he did not intend to carry out a terrorist attack.
The judge told the men he was sure that their ‘act of wickedness’ would have resulted in the deaths of ‘very many people’ of all ages, including children.
‘I am sure that you were both fervent supporters of ISIS,’ Mr Justice Wall said.
‘You saw anyone who did not hold similar views to your own as an enemy.
‘You were both prepared to commit an atrocity on the streets of Manchester with a firearm in which very many people would have been killed and injured.
‘You had no care for your potential victims. You were prepared to die for your cause.’
Following the sentences, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said the pair’s intention was ‘to commit mass murder’.
‘This is not a hyperbolic use of language.
‘This was their intent and it was that they were brought up short because of the brilliant work of some very courageous, very professional and very decent people.’
Sir Stephen said had the cell succeeded, the consequences ‘would have been truly awful, and would have ranked right up there with the worst of the atrocities that we have seen across the world’.
The senior officer said Jewish communities in Britain were having to ‘put up with a way of life that nobody else has to put up with’ and ‘have more justification to be fearful than anybody else.’
He said police and wider society had a duty to remain ‘steadfast’ in their support.
‘We have seen the terrorist atrocity in Manchester at a synagogue on Yom Kippur, we have seen the events on Bondi Beach in Sydney,’ Sir Stephen said.
‘We are seeing the manifestation of hatred moving beyond our shores globally and this is a threat to all of us. If our Jewish communities are under threat we are all under threat.’
He added: ‘We all owe to our Jewish friends and neighbours a steadfast duty to stand with them in all circumstances, and that is certainly what we do as part of Greater Manchester Police, the counter-terrorism network and beyond.’
Community Security Trust chief executive Mark Gardner congratulated counter-terror police for their ‘amazing job’ in catching the fanatics.
But he warned that since the October 7 attacks, sections of society had ‘turned against Jews’.
Frank Ferguson, head of the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘This was a deeply disturbing plot inspired by extremist ideology.
‘Terrorism is an attack on the very fabric of our society. We will always use the law to protect communities from harm and relentlessly hold offenders to account, making sure they face the toughest legal consequences for their actions.’
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