Teen held ‘as he went to behead soldier’

A teenage Muslim who idolised the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby was arrested as he made his way to behead a British soldier, a court heard.

Brusthom Ziamani, 19, was arrested on a street in east London in August carrying a 12-inch knife and a hammer in a rucksack, having earlier researched the location of army cadet bases in the south east of the capital, the Old Bailey heard.

Ziamani had “reverted” to Islam early in 2014 and his August arrest came after he showed his ex-girlfriend the weapons, described Lee Rigby’s killer Michael Adebolajo as a “legend” and told her he would “kill soldiers”, prosecutor Annabel Darlow said.