IS supporter who discussed killing the Queen faces jail

A delivery driver who chatted about killing the Queen and Tottenham Hotspur fans will be sentenced later for attempting to join Islamic State.

Somalian Aweys Shikhey, 38, dreamed of travelling to take part in violent jihad after moving to Tottenham, north London.

The IS fan tried to raise money for his trip by applying for various loans, securing £10,000 from Barclays for a "wedding", jurors were told.

He borrowed more money from his boss on the pretext of visiting his two wives and children in Holland and Kenya.

All the while he was in contact with a woman in Norway who applied to IS to become a jihadi bride, the Old Bailey heard.

Shikhey was arrested at Stansted airport in May last year before boarding a flight to Istanbul, with an onward route planned into IS-held territory.

His terrorist mindset was revealed in encrypted chat on Threema and Telegram with a fellow Somalian in Kenya.

Abdirahman Idris Hassan's computer had been examined after he was arrested for alleged terrorism offences in September 2016.

The pair talked about killing the then prime minister David Cameron and "the old woman Elizabeth", in apparent reference to the Queen.

Shikhey told Hassan three or five people were needed to "carry out a bloody attack" and it would be best to find AK47s and other automatic weapons.

In reference to White Hart Lane, home to Tottenham Hotspur football club, he added: "They could have been taken to Stamford Hill and when people leave from their game."

Shikhey, who has a Dutch passport, denied preparing terrorist acts on or before May 23 last year but declined to give evidence in his defence.

A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for a day to before finding him guilty in February.

Judge Martin Edmunds QC will sentence him at the Old Bailey on Friday.