Man pleads guilty to terrorist mosque bomb plot

A man has admitted to planning a terrorist act on a mosque in South London after he was found to be gathering together fireworks and other components to make a bomb.

Steven Bishop, 41, of South London pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance as well as preparing an act of terrorism.

It is believed he was targeting a mosque in South London after he showed a key worker images of the items he was collecting for the purposes of building a bomb. Bishop had also carried out a number of online searches for Morden mosque.

Commander Clarke Jarrett, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “From our investigation it was clear Bishop stockpiled a quantity of fireworks and other component parts with the intention of creating a device that he was intending to use to target a mosque.

“Thanks to the diligence of his key worker in alerting us we were able to intervene before he could progress with his plans any further and crucially, nobody came to any harm.

“Given Bishop was focussed upon a mosque, and in light of recent events in New Zealand, we also know that Muslim and other faith communities may be feeling particularly concerned and vulnerable.

“Specialist officers continue to provide support and protective security advice to mosques, and indeed all places of worship across the UK on how to best keep their buildings and visitors safe.”

Bishop was arrested by Counter Terrorism detectives on Monday, 29 October 2018, at his address in south London.

When detectives searched his address, they found several fireworks – some of which had been tampered with, as well as other equipment associated with making homemade incendiary devices, including fuses and remote control and ignitor.

A firing device was also delivered to Bishop’s address two days after his arrest.

Officers identified that Bishop had bought a smartphone on 18 October 2018 and the first searches made on the phone were for instructions on how to access the ‘dark web’.

Further analysis of his device showed Bishop visited sites and viewed videos about the Manchester, London Bridge and Paris terrorist attacks.

Detectives also found a comment Bishop had posted on 24 October 2018 in relation to a video on Facebook about the victims of the Manchester Arena attack which ended with him saying: “don’t worry something bad is going to happen soon mark my words”.

Two ‘VPN’ apps were downloaded on to the phone – the apps are designed to hide which internet sites and online information the user has been accessing.

However, when they opened one of the apps, officers found a page was still open, which showed Bishop had been researching further details on explosives detonators.

Police searched Bishop’s mother’s address where they found wrapping that matched the fireworks at his home address. In the garden shed, detectives found a red suitcase inside which they found component parts which could be combined to create an improvised incendiary device.

Furthermore, detectives also found a number of hand-written notes by Bishop with detailed information on how to make various explosive substances, as well as information on how to access the dark web. The notes were deemed to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

After questioning and whilst further enquiries were being carried out, Bishop was charged a week after his arrest on 5 November 2018 and subsequently pleaded guilty to the offences above.

Following the guilty plea, Bishop was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on Wednesday, 10 April at Kingston Crown Court.