Teenager pleads guilty to terror charges in UK

LONDON: A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty yesterday to two terrorism charges in the central English city of Birmingham.
The boy, who cannot be named under British law because he is a minor, admitted to possessing two explosive substances, sulphur powder and potassium nitrate, and to possessing bomb-making books and diagrams, including ‘The Terrorist Handbook’ and a book on how to make the explosive Semtex.
The boy came to the attention of British police after FBI agents passed on an alert they had received from an Internet user in the United States, according to prosecutor Mark Topping.
Topping said the boy had made online postings saying that 20 minutes later he would storm a high school with a handgun and pistol and “shoot until the police arrive and then shoot himself.” The boy also kept a notebook with notes about plans to kill pupils in a school attack, according to Topping.
Consultant child psychologist, Dr. John Brian, told the court that the boy had never been physically aggressive and that he had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome shortly after his arrest in February 2012.
The boy has been detained since then under the Mental Health Act and is receiving therapeutic and medical treatment for his condition, Brian said. He was sentenced to a further six months of treatment Monday by the Birmingham Magistrates Court.