‘Anglo Jihadi’ who was planning terror attack jailed for life

A Muslim convert who was found guilty of planning a terror attack has been jailed for life.

Self-styled “Anglo Jihadi” Jordan Richardson, who joked about going into a synagogue in a suicide vest, was planning an “atrocity” with a shopping centre among his possible targets, a court heard.

The 21-year-old, who “regularly expressed a wish to kill Jews”, was arrested in December 2024 on his way to work in Howden, East Yorkshire, with instructions on how to make mustard gas and a note which said: “Throw all grenades into crowd; Shoot bystanders; Stab anyone who comes close; Do not get taken alive.”

Leeds Crown Court jurors heard a crossbow was found at Richardson’s home, and his internet history showed an “affiliation with extreme Islamist ideology”.

A search of his online activity showed that his Instagram accounts included one with the handle “Anglo Jihadi”, and his possible targets for an attack included Meadowhall shopping centre, near Sheffield.

On Thursday Richardson was handed a discretionary life sentence and told he must serve a minimum term of 16 years by a judge who said he had “a genuine ideological commitment to violent jihad”.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told the defendant: “The nature, frequency and persistence of your posts make me sure you intended to use the crossbow and knife in a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom.

“But for the disruptive actions of counter terrorism police you would have committed that attack within weeks.”

The judge said: “You had a genuine ideological commitment to violent jihad… Your firm intention was to carry out violent action to further the aims of Islamic State, knowing this would lead to the deaths of others.”

The court heard Richardson has expressed allegiance to Islamic State in prison, with Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb saying he was “not on the path to deradicalisation”.

The judge said Richardson started taking an interest in Islam after conversations at the gym where he worked, and converted after splitting up with his girlfriend, attending a mosque in Goole once a week.

His online searches included: “Does Isis recruit on Instagram?” the court heard.

Gym receptionist Richardson, of Oliver Close, Howden, told the trial his behaviour was a form of fantasy and escape from the rest of his life, where he felt depressed and isolated, and that he was “role playing the character of an extremist”.

But prosecutors said he “wasn’t just an online fantasist” but an extremist who was “going to put his jihadi fantasies into reality”.

In November, Richardson was found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism, two counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, and three counts of distributing terrorist publications.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Katherine Robinson said: “(Richardson) regularly expressed a wish to kill Jews, for example using the terminology – the pillagers, the big noses and the money.

“He suggested going to Palestine to fight Jews and he searched for how to volunteer for Hamas from the UK and how to get to Palestine.

“He made a joke about going into a synagogue in a suicide vest.”

Ms Robinson said Richardson “stated that he converted to Islam the day after Ramadan” and expressed his desires “to conduct jihad and kill infidels”.

Jurors were shown a video Richardson posted on Instagram of Meadowhall shopping centre, followed by a brightly coloured clip featuring pictures of rainbows and dolphins, overlaid with the words: “How life feels when you finally give up and just start killing people brutally.”

Other video clips included Richardson smashing a statue of Buddha in a garden, describing how it was a “polytheistic idol”, and also of him firing a crossbow.

The prosecutor said the crossbow found in his home was bought online by the defendant for £35.95, along with a pack of 10 crossbow bolts.

She said the recipe for mustard gas “has been assessed as viable and potentially fatal for anyone exposed to it” and that this substance would be capable of being loaded into a grenade.