Islamic convert from Luton Ibrahim Roger Anderson has been jailed for seven years for terrorism offences after sending undercover officers extremist material.
Anderson, 44, had disseminated terrorist material, including “extremely graphic” video footage such as executions and suicide bombings by the terror group to the undercover officer for London Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command via Facebook and Telegram in June and July 2020.
He had pledged support for Islamic State and also sent a message to the officer saying, according to the BBC: “We will, with the help of Tawhid [the belief in the oneness of God], raise the black flag over London.”
Counter-terror officers arrested the Luton car mechanic on October 21st, 2020. He had pleaded guilty to ten counts of disseminating terrorist material, four charges of possessing terrorism publications relating to the Islamic State, and one count of breaching a notification requirement on April 7th, 2021. On Wednesday at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
“Some of it is at the worst end of the range seen in this court,” Judge Philip Katz QC said of the material during sentencing.
Anderson, known for his striking ginger beard, had a previous conviction for recruiting for Islamic State outside of a Topshop clothing store on Oxford Street, London, in 2014. In 2016, he was jailed for three years.
The Muslim convert also admitted to breaching requirements to inform authorities of an email he had used to set up a Facebook account, resulting in an additional one-year term.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Harman of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “Anderson freely shared extreme Islamist propaganda online, depicting graphic terrorist violence. I have no doubt that Anderson poses a considerable risk to the public, and people are safer now that he is behind bars.
“Religious extremism poses a very real threat to public safety, and we would continue to urge the public to report concerns about friends or family members who they believe have been, or are vulnerable to radicalisation.
“Online content of this nature is extremely harmful to those who view it, and is a means by which extremists seek to radicalise people. We would urge anyone who comes across videos that depict or encourage terrorism to report it to police straight away.”
Some of the propaganda Anderson had sent was entitled “Flames of War” and “Answer the Call”. Anderson, a father himself, had also sent material containing a father encouraging his children to follow him into martyrdom.
Following his 2016 conviction, media reported images allegedly taken by Anderson of his young children posing in front of an Islamist flag, while another showed his sons holding swords.